The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday that federal limits on political party-candidate spending coordination are unconstitutional. The ruling was 6-3, with Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson in the dissent.
The case, known as NRSC v. FEC, stems from a 2022 challenge to a provision of the Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA) that restricted coordinated spending campaigns between political parties and candidates. The Republican plaintiffs — which included then-Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance — alleged that such limitations violated the First Amendment.
Writing for the majority, Justice Brett Kavanaugh ruled that the FECA limits at issue are in “tension with the text of the First Amendment,” and thus “restricts political parties’ speech in support of their own candidates during political campaigns.” These restrictions, he added, “impair the party’s traditional forms of communication such as advertisements; preclude parties from amplifying the voice of their adherents; impose additional monetary costs and burdens on political parties; and inflict a ‘stifling effect on the ability of the party to do what it exists to do.’”
“In short, constitutional text, history, and precedent establish that the political-party coordinated-expenditure limits violate the First Amendment,” Kavanaugh wrote. “Whether the Democratic party, the Republican party, or other parties, all political parties and candidates going forward can compete equally under the same rules regarding coordinated expenditures and can structure their fundraising, spending, and political speech on a level playing field as they see fit within the law.”
Writing for the dissent, Kagan accused the majority of “rewrit[ing] the rules, to allow circumvention of the contribution limits.” She argued that these rules are “needed to protect our democracy’s integrity.”
“I’m not sure what to call a remnant of a remnant, but that is what the Court has left today. And the result will be what Justice Breyer warned of: a legal regime increasingly unable to stop political corruption, and thus to preserve our institutions’ democratic legitimacy,” Kagan wrote.
Tuesday’s decision marks yet another major defeat for Russia hoaxer Marc Elias. The anti-election integrity lawyer argued in favor of the FECA limitations before the court last year.
The high court’s decision reverses the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals’ ruling on the matter and remands the case back to the lower judiciary for further proceedings consistent with the majority opinion.
