Supreme Court Strikes Down Overall Campaign Contribution Limits
By Jess Bravin
Wall Street Journal
10:41 am ET, Apr 2, 2014
WASHINGTON–The Supreme Court, in a closely watched campaign finance case, struck down aggregate limits on political contributions, saying such caps violate the First Amendment.
The court, in a 5-4 ruling, said Congress’s interest in fighting corruption doesn’t justify the burden on political speech posed by aggregate limits.
The case was brought by Alabama businessman Shaun McCutcheon, who wanted to give more than a total of $123,200, the aggregate cap, to Republican candidates and political committees. The Republican National Committee backed him, while Democratic groups and activists lined up on the other side, arguing that the campaign regulation, which traces to the post-Watergate reforms of the 1970s, was valid. Read the full WSJ story here.
Justice Stephen Breyer read his dissent from the bench, signifying significant disagreement from the court’s liberal wing. He said that the aggregate cap fights corruption by making harder to circumvent the limits on contributions to individual candidates.
Justice Clarence Thomas agreed with the majority’s result, but would have gone further still, striking down all limits on political contributions.
The court left intact limits on contributions to individual candidates and political committees. Chief Justice Roberts wrote that those are justified in fighting quid-pro-quo corruption.
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