McCutcheon v. FEC
Channel: Timothy C Platt, MSM
Date: 2014-04-06

In this video you will hear the actual Supreme Court discussion concerning McCutheon v. Federal Elections Commission. 

Representing Shaun McCutheon is Erin Murphy with Bancroft PLLC. Bobby Burchfield with McDermott Will & Emery LLP represents Senator Mitch McConnell, as amicus curiae. The Federal Elections Commission is represented by the Solicitor General of the United States, Donald Verrilli.

At Issue: (1) Whether the biennial limit on contributions to non-candidate committees, 2 U.S.C. § 441a(a)(3)(B), is unconstitutional for lacking a constitutionally cognizable interest as applied to contributions to national party committees; (2) whether the biennial limits on contributions to non-candidate committees, 2 U.S.C. § 441a(a)(3)(B), are unconstitutional facially for lacking a constitutionally cognizable interest; (3) whether the biennial limits on contributions to non-candidate committees are unconstitutionally too low, as applied and facially; and (4) whether the biennial limit on contributions to candidate committees, 2 U.S.C. § 441a(a)(3)(A), is unconstitutional for lacking a constitutionally cognizable interest.

The Supreme Court on April 2, 2014 struck down a 40-year-old ban on aggregate contributions that a single donor can give to candidates and party committees. The court's ruling means that a single contributor is no longer capped on how many candidates and party committees he/she can give to in a given election cycle. It keeps in place the federal campaign limits that restrict how much a donor can give to any one candidate or to any one party committee.