The Supreme Court ruled today that individuals may not be limited in the number of political candidates to whom they can contribute during an election. At the same time the justices left in place the maximum donation that can be made to a single candidate, which remains at $2,600.
Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., in the controlling opinion in the 5-4 ruling, said that while the government has an interest in preventing corruption of federal officeholders, individuals have political rights that include being able to give to as many candidates as they want, in order to show support.
“Money in politics may at times seem repugnant to some, but so too does much of what the First Amendment vigorously protects,” the chief justice wrote. “If the First Amendment protects flag burning, funeral protests, and Nazi parades — despite the profound offense such spectacles cause — it surely protects political campaign speech despite popular opposition.”
Under the current limit, a donor can’t give more than $123,200 to candidates, parties and political action committees. Of that, just $48,600 can go directly to candidates.
That means if someone wanted to give the maximum donation, he could only contribute to nine candidates.
Chief Justice Roberts said it made no sense that someone couldn’t give to a 10th candidate or more — and said the government didn’t offer a clear line on where corruption would come into play.
Progressives were overwrought already, demonizing the libertarian leaning Koch brothers over their bankrolling of anti-ObamaCare political ads. Democrats' fight for campaign finance reform has always been about limiting the voices of private citizens in the politics, while inviting massive spending and corruption by activist labor unions. Fourteen of the top 25 political contributors are unions.
• The top campaign donor of the last 25 years is ActBlue, an online political-action committee dedicated to raising funds for Democrats. ActBlue’s political contributions, which total close to $100 million, are even more impressive when one realizes that it was only launched in 2004. That’s $100 million in ten years.
• Fourteen labor unions were among the top 25 political campaign contributors.
Democrats say that money from wealthy individuals will corrupt the system, but there are two sides to every transaction. If influence can be bought, there is somebody to sell it. While Democrats complain about money from shadowy groups they have no second thoughts about where their own money comes from. Campaign finance limits are for the other side. Remember when the Obama campaign disabled credit card address verification? That meant campaign money was potentially untraceable. If there is corruption it will be from rent seeking Democrats more often than not.
Make no mistake. This is a victory for libertarians.
Libertarian Leanings 