A judge reinstated voter-approved limits on the amount of cash Montana political parties can give to candidates on Thursday, nine days after he struck down those limits as unconstitutionally low and less than two weeks before Montana's primary elections.

U.S. District Judge Charles Lovell ruled last week that the low campaign contribution limits for political parties, individuals and political committees set by a voter-approved initiative in 1994 restricted speech and did not allow candidates to effectively campaign. As a result, state officials re-imposed the higher limits that were in place for individuals and political committees before 1994.

However, the pre-1994 limits on political parties were lower than those approved by voters that year. Enforcing those lower limits would worsen the situation for the political parties that challenged the caps and put the state in the position of enforcing another unconstitutional law, the judge wrote in his order.