Supreme Court Strikes Down Pillar Of Campaign Finance Limits
The U.S. Supreme Court has once again erased from the books a major provision of the nation's campaign finance law. By a 5-to-4 vote, the justices removed the cap on the total amount of money that donors can contribute to candidates and parties in each election. Prior to Wednesday's ruling, the aggregate limit was $123,000. Now there is no limit.
The ruling is the latest in a series of decisions that have all but demolished the campaign reforms adopted by Congress beginning 40 years ago in the wake of the Watergate scandal. Those reforms were aimed at restoring public confidence by preventing rich contributors from essentially buying votes with their contributions. In 2010, however, the Supreme Court ruled that corporations and unions could spend an unlimited amount on their own to influence elections. And on Wednesday, in a case brought by the Republican National Committee, the court struck down the limit on the total amount that individual donors can give directly to candidates and parties.
"People should have the right to give their money and exercise free speech to as many candidates and as many political committees and PACs as they want," said an elated RNC Chairman Reince Priebus.
Political Speech Protected
The court's decision, written by Chief Justice John Roberts, reversed a contrary ruling from 40 years ago. He said that the aggregate limit of $123,000 is unconstitutional because it can have the effect of limiting the number of candidates an individual can support with maximum contributions. The government, he said, "may not any more restrict how many candidates or causes a donor may support than it may tell a newspaper how many candidates it may endorse." If the First Amendment protects flag burning, funeral protests and Nazi parades, he said, it surely protects political speech.
“ People should have the right to give their money and exercise free speech to as many candidates and as many political committees and PACs as they want.