The Paradox of Current Campaign Finance Laws
Posted at 12:15 p.m. on Feb. 22
The Supreme Court’s decision to hear a challenge to the cap on aggregate campaign donations “puts the court’s conservatives in a bind,” according to Noah Feldman.
“The purpose of the aggregate limit — and its constitutional justification — has always been to avoid the appearance of corruption in our politics while affording an opportunity to circumvent the anticorruption policy.”
“In a world where I can make unlimited contributions to a super-PAC, what difference does it make if I can’t also funnel unlimited contributions to multiple candidates or to national committees? The only way for the court to distinguish the two situations is to insist that the super-PACs’ uncoordinated advocacy is categorically different from the coordinated efforts of national parties.”
