US Supreme Court strikes down federal limits on political party spending coordinated with candidates | Today’s news
The US Supreme Court on Tuesday (June 30) struck down a decades-old federal law limiting how much political parties can spend in coordination with congressional and presidential candidates, marking another major campaign finance decision.
The decision removes restrictions that have governed coordinated party spending for more than 50 years and is expected to change the way political parties finance federal election campaigns.
The court struck down a decades-old campaign finance law
In its ruling, the Supreme Court struck down federal limits on coordinated spending between political parties and their candidates.
The case was brought by GOP committees representing House and Senate candidates and involved JD Vance, who joined the suit while serving as a U.S. senator from Ohio, along with former representative Steve Chabot.
The lawsuit challenged provisions of federal election law that limited the amount political parties could spend directly in coordination with candidates.
Why were the limits introduced?
The spending limits were designed to prevent wealthy donors from circumventing individual campaign contribution limits.
Lawmakers argued that without such caps, donors could give unlimited amounts to political parties with the expectation that the money would ultimately benefit a particular candidate.
The Supreme Court had previously upheld these restrictions in 2001.
The latest in a series of campaign finance decisions
The decision adds to a series of Supreme Court decisions expanding the role of money in US elections.
The court’s landmark 2010 Citizens United decision allowed corporations, unions and outside groups to spend unlimited amounts independently in federal elections.
Tuesday’s decision further loosens campaign finance restrictions by removing limits on spending coordinated directly between political parties and candidates.
The Trump administration supported the call
The lawsuit was originally filed in 2022 by Republican election committees.
After President Donald Trump returned to office for a second term, the Federal Election Commission withdrew its defense of the law and joined Republicans in asking the Supreme Court to strike it down.
Democrats urged the court to preserve the spending limits, although many campaign finance experts argued that the limits had become less effective in an era of unlimited independent political spending.
How much could the parties spend before judgment?
Under the previous law, coordinated spending limits varied by agency and state.
For the 2024 election cycle:
Senate races had spending limits ranging from $127,200 in smaller states to nearly $4 million in California.
House races were capped at $127,200 in single congressional district states and $63,600 in all other states.
Those federal caps will no longer apply following the Supreme Court’s decision.
