Supreme Court strikes down limits on party spending coordinated with candidates
The 6-3 ruling overturned a 1974 federal restriction on coordinated party spending, with Justice Brett Kavanaugh writing that parties historically could support candidates freely in concert with their campaigns.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday invalidated federal limits on how much political parties can spend in coordination with candidates for public office, in a 6-3 ruling that overturned a restriction dating to a 1974 campaign finance law. Justice Brett Kavanaugh, writing for the majority in NRSC v. FEC, said that for nearly 200 years after ratification of the First Amendment, parties could spend freely to support their candidates and do so in coordination with them. The decision removes a longstanding constraint on coordinated party spending and adds to the court’s broader trend of narrowing campaign-finance restrictions.
- First Amendment: A provision of the U.S. Constitution that protects freedoms including speech.
- coordinated party spending: Campaign spending by political parties that is planned or carried out in concert with a candidate or campaign.
- campaign-finance restrictions: Legal limits and rules governing how money may be raised or spent in elections.