---
title: Brophy v. Maxfield - Wyoming Liberty Group
description: Wyoming Liberty Group challenged Wyoming's $25,000 aggregate campaign contribution cap as unconstitutional — and won a settlement halting its enforcement.
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date: 2026-06-29T21:49:34Z
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***Brophy v. Maxfield***

Benjamin Barr, Stephen Klein, Boyd Wiggam

**Filed**:

July 24, 2014 (United States District Court for the District of Wyoming)

**Cause of Action**:  
Wyoming law prohibits citizens from contributing more than $25,000 in aggregate contributions to state candidates in a 2-year period. This is an unconstitutional abridgment of free speech under the First Amendment.

**Summary**:  
In the 2014 election cycle, Dan and Carleen Brophy generously supported a number of candidates for the Wyoming House and Senate, complying with the $1,000 contribution limit per candidate under state law. However, even before the primary date the Brophys quickly reached the $25,000 aggregate cap under Wyoming law. There are many more candidates the Brophys would like to support, and 75 races in the House and Senate. Under the $25,000 aggregate limit, the Brophys can each maximize their contributions to 25 candidates or lessen their support in order to support more.

Following the [*McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission*](https://wyliberty.org/images/PDF_Downloads/12-536_e1pf.pdf) decision by the United States Supreme Court, aggregate limits such as this are unconstitutional. They are not narrowly tailored to prevent corruption or its appearance, because the $1,000 individual contribution limit already achieves that.

We filed suit on behalf of the Brophys to halt the enforcement of the $25,000 aggregate limit.

**Procedural History**:

- On July 25, 2014, we filed suit on behalf of Dan and Carleen Brophy in Wyoming federal court against Secretary of State Max Maxfield in his official capacity. [The complaint is available here](https://wyliberty.org/images/PDF_Downloads/BrophyVMaxfieldcompl.pdf).
- On August 29, 2014, Judge Alan Johnson approved a settlement in which the Secretary of State [agreed to halt the enforcement of the aggregate contribution limit](https://wyliberty.org/images/PDF_Downloads/Brophyv-MaxfieldConsentOrder.pdf).
 
**Outcome**:

A quick, uncompromising victory allowed the Brophys (and anyone else) to support more candidates in the 2014 Wyoming election cycle and will protect contributors from aggregate limits in all future Wyoming elections.

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