In McCutcheon, The Supreme Court Strikes Down The FEC's Biennial Aggregate Limits

Christopher DeLacy is a Partner and Michael Emerson is an Associate in the Washington D.C. office

HIGHLIGHTS:

In the most significant campaign finance decision since Citizens United v. FEC, the Supreme Court today struck down the Federal Election Commission's biennial aggregate limits. In McCutcheon v. FEC, the Court left in place the direct contribution limits to candidates, political parties and PACs, but deemed unconstitutional a secondary set of set of limits that had been in place since the 1970s. Today, the Supreme Court struck down the Federal Election Commission's biennial aggregate limits, arguing that it 'must' err on the side of protecting political speech rather than suppressing it.'"1 The decision in McCutcheon v. FEC leaves in place the direct contribution limits to candidates, political parties and PACs (which the Court termed "base limits"), but strikes down a secondary set of set of limits that had been in place since the 1970s. McCutcheon is the most significant campaign finance ruling since Citizens United v. FEC. It represents a major victory for First Amendment proponents and another in a recent string of setbacks for the campaign finance reform community.

What were the biennial (aggregate) limits?

As part of a series of post-Watergate ethics reforms during the 1970s, Congress enacted a secondary set of federal campaign contribution limits to prevent the circumvention of the direct contribution limits, which are discussed below. The biennial aggregate limit for 2013-2014 was $123,200 per individual. In addition to this overall limit, there were sub limits of $48,600 to all federal candidates and $74,600 to all federal Political Action Committees (PACs) and political parties (federal accounts), of which no more than $48,600 may be contributed to state and local political parties (federal accounts) and federal PACs. The biennial limits were indexed every two years to inflation.2

What are the individual (base) limits?

The direct contributions limits, which were left untouched by the McCutcheon decision, currently limit individual contributions to $2,600 per candidate, per election, $32,400 per national party, per year; $10,000 per state or local party (federal accounts) per year, and $5,000 to federal PACs per year. Individual contribution limits to candidates and national parties are indexed every two years to inflation.3

Constitutional Issues

In this plurality decision, drafted by Chief Justice Roberts, the Court...