Supreme Court Tosses Campaign Spending Limits

The Supreme Court just cleared the way for national party committees to spend far more money in lockstep with their candidates, reports NBC News. In a 6-3 decision written by Justice Brett Kavanaugh, the court's conservative majority struck down federal limits on how much coordinated spending a party can do with an individual campaign, ruling that the caps violate First Amendment free speech protections because political spending is treated as speech. The New York Times calls the ruling "a major victory for Republicans" that "could undercut one of the Democrats' financial advantages."

The case was brought by the National Republican Senatorial Committee, the National Republican Congressional Committee, and two GOP candidates from 2022, including JD Vance, now vice president, who challenged rules that capped what parties could spend on items like venues, consultants, and travel arranged with campaigns. Under the old system, those coordinated expenditures were limited—sometimes to nearly $4 million in Senate races and about $127,000 in some House contests—while independent party spending was already unlimited. The ruling continues a long run of decisions, including 2010's Citizens United, that have dismantled campaign finance restrictions and raised fresh questions about how much money major parties can pour directly into competitive races.