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April 02, 2014 11:13 AM UTC

SCOTUS "Opens Floodgates," Strikes Down Donation Limits

  • 37 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

campaignfinance2_0

The Washington Post reports, and you'll be seeing the impact soon:

A split Supreme Court Wednesday struck down limits on the total amount of money an individual may spend on political candidates as a violation of free speech rights, a decision sure to increase the role of money in political campaigns.

The 5 to 4 decision sparked a sharp dissent from liberal justices, who said the decision reflects a wrong-headed hostility to campaign finance laws that the court’s conservatives showed in Citizens United v. FEC , which allowed corporate spending on elections.

“If Citizens United opened a door,” Justice Stephen G. Breyer said in reading his dissent from the bench, “today’s decision we fear will open a floodgate.”

The ruling doesn't get rid of the individual federal candidate contribution limit of $2,600, but it does strike down the aggregate limit of $48,600 in hard money donations to candidates in a two-year election cycle. That means wealthy donors to candidates won't have to pick and choose who to donate to to stay under an overall cap. Now, at least in theory, everybody can have a check.

In an era where unlimited soft money has already made candidates' own fundraising of secondary importance in overall political spending, this decision will likely have an incremental not sweeping effect. But for those of you who would prefer less money flooding the political system–which is, not surprisingly, usually people without as much money–this was not a good decision for your small-d democracy.

Comments

37 thoughts on “SCOTUS “Opens Floodgates,” Strikes Down Donation Limits

    1. There is no freedom where a few billionaires can but the government of their choice. It makes the entire Constitution just a dog and pony show so"'the people" (poor schmucks) can think they live in a Republic in which they govern via democratically elected representatives.

        1. Are you referring to Mike Bloomberg and Tom Stenner?

          Or perhaps the 4 locals who turned Colorado blue?

          Don't let the fact get in the way of your socialist rant.

          1. BlueCat didn't make this partisan.  Why do you assume he supports liberals who make large contributions?  Also, you support socialism everytime you eat a vegetable grown in this country.

              1. Oh and he thinks Nazis are socialists because Hitler's party used the word in their name. All you'll get from AC is talking points and his idea of a terrific argument is to say, whatever it is, Dems do it too. He doesn't realize that's admitting that it's wrong and he's got no way to defend it except to say everybody else  is just as bad.  He's almost always wrong about that but it's the best he can do.  He claims to have a 98th percentile IQ but he doesn't seem to do anything much with it. That's our AC.

          2. My word…how ignorant can you be?

             

            You are celebrating the acceptance of the Russian model of governance by our Supreme Court. Must be why you have such a man crush on Putin ?..wait a minute…he just got a divorce. You two aren't like..an item..or something…are you?

    2. If money equals speech, then speech is no longer free.  

      For fun, places where speech is not free:

      1. Schools 

      2. Prisons 

      3. The military

      4. Courtrooms

      1. I support the First Amendment too. It does not say money is speech. It took a particular activist mix on the Supreme Court to place that concept into the intrepretaton of the Amendment.

  1. After Sheldon Adelson's dog show in Vegas the other day for GOP hopefuls looking to score a patron, this decision is going to cause some hurt feelings for sure. If a guy with essentially unlimited funds to donate to campaigns and no regulation forcing him to be strategic about it still doesn't decide to back you, then it's kind of personal isn't it?

  2. This would seem to be a problem with the squishy middle.

    The law as overturned set an arbitrary limit on multi-faceted contributions. The majority didn't see a good reason why the cap was set at the level it was set overall, especially since the contribution limits were so varied by just what campaign or PACs you donated to. Since they can't make new law, they struck down what was in front of them.

    Of course, the intent of the law was to prevent one donor from unduly influencing the entirety of the national election through direct campaign contributions, and IMHO the current law did at least set that boundary.

    Ironically, if the law had limited direct campaign donations to the donor's resident district, it might have passed the Court's scrutiny. (One person, one vote could have been invoked, for example.)

  3. Open up the floodgates and let the money spew forth. Let the political ads on TV become so gigantic that everyone tunes them all out.

    The money will find a way because the ROI on the investment is incredible. The trick is not to limit the money, the trick is to reduce its impact.

    1. Now this is funny…

      Big Donors Fear Shakdown After Decision

      “I’m horrified, planning to de-list my phone number and destroy my email address,” said Ken Kies, who, along with his wife, has bumped up against the federal political contribution limits. “What I was really hoping for is a ban on lobbyists making contributions entirely.”

       

    2. The problem isn't that people will tune out the political ads, it's that they will tune out politics altogether leaving only the most activist and richest to get involved and vote.

      1. What I mean is, how the hell does one limit political  impact, not money:

        ""The trick is not to limit the money, the trick is to reduce its impact."

        I think that this is one of those buzz phrases that means almost nothing. If I'm wrong, show me how.

  4. There has to be a connection to assholes and rope and that sort of thing going on here. Aunt Ruby just dumped the slop bucket in the trough, them hogs is a’gonna go wild.

  5. Part of me is hoping this turns out to be the biggest Ponzi scheme/wealth redistribution program in the history of the country.  Billionaires will be fleeced by political operatives with promises of "buying the government" they want, and then when events in Washington take their Constitutionally designed course of accomplishing next to nothing, Members will say "what could we do?"  Members will then laugh all the way to their fat campaign bank accounts where their incumbency will make them impervious to even the Adelson's of the world.  My concern then is NOT that the billionaires will rule, but that the rulers will be billionaires.

     

  6. Rule by billionaires…think Russia. No wonder our right wingers are so in love with Vladimir Putin. Corporate mafia have taken over there….we're next, I guess.

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