The U.S. Supreme Court on June 30 struck down federal limits restricting political parties from coordinating spending with candidates.
Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote the court’s majority opinion in National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) v. Federal Election Commission (FEC), which was the NRSC’s challenge to provisions of the Federal Election Campaign Act.
Kavanaugh wrote, “the Federal Election Campaign Act, known as FECA, limits a political party’s campaign spending. Those spending limits necessarily abridge political parties’ freedom of speech.”
Justices Elena Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor, and Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented.
Congress passed the Federal Election Campaign Act in 1971 to limit campaign spending and fundraising for federal political office, and amended it in 1974 to limit how much political party committees may accept and spend to influence a federal election….