Supreme Court to hear important campaign finance reform case!

Next Tuesday the Supreme Court is hearing a huge case on campaign finance reform. And Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell will be there to testify in favor of eliminating campaign contribution limits in the case McCutcheon vs FEC.

 

Right now individuals are limited in how much we can give to a candidate running for office. Senator McConnell and others are arguing that since you can give unlimited amounts of money to super PACs, you should be able to give unlimited amounts of cash directly to candidates. This could open up an additional floodgate for money in campaigns. In the last election cycle, one individual gave $20.5 million to the American Crossroads PAC.  

"The Supreme Court may not agree with McConnell that all contribution limits should be overturned now, but the justices could still accept his argument that contribution limits should be treated with the same level of scrutiny as restrictions on campaign spending. Such a ruling would overturn precedent going back to Buckley v. Valeo and set the stage for a future case to eliminate all such limits, according to Campaign Legal Center President Trevor Potter." -- Huffington Post, 10/3/13

A lot could be at stake with this case, so it will be an important one to watch!  Here are a few resources to read more about the case:

• The Hill:  McCutcheon vs FEC, Undermining Representative Democracy
• Huffington Post:  Coal cash, climate denial fuel 'Citizens United 2'
• Demos:  Another Citizens United, but this time we will win