{"id":3955,"date":"2026-07-07T10:38:51","date_gmt":"2026-07-07T10:38:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=3955"},"modified":"2026-07-07T10:38:51","modified_gmt":"2026-07-07T10:38:51","slug":"opinion-the-supreme-court-just-gave-the-rich-even-more-political-power","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=3955","title":{"rendered":"Opinion: The Supreme Court just gave the rich even more political power"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The flow of money into\u00a0U.S.\u00a0politics is already harming democracy, and now, it\u2019s about to get worse.<\/p>\n

Read more Horoscopes July 7, 2026: Berenice Bejo, question every move this year<\/a><\/p>\n

The Supreme Court on June 30 struck down limits on campaign expenditures by political parties in coordination with candidates in a 6-3 decision that only continues the problematic trend started by Citizen\u2019s United v. FEC. Without these limits, ultra-wealthy donors \u2014 and thus, special interests like the firearms and cryptocurrency industries \u2014 can essentially buy themselves favorable treatment by elected officials, diminishing the concept of one-person, one-vote so sacred to the U.S. Constitution.<\/p>\n

To reach its problematic decision, the court also continued its assault on precedent, overturning a case that had upheld such limits as recently as 2001.<\/p>\n

Last week\u2019s case, National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) v. Federal Election Commission (FEC), had been brought by Republican groups and individuals, including Vice President JD Vance when he was still a U.S. senator from Ohio. They argued that the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1972, which set the coordination limits, violated the First Amendment\u2019s rights to free speech and free association by preventing national and state political party committees from coordinating advertising messaging with the candidates of their choice.<\/p>\n

Existing laws permit national political parties to make large expenditures for individual candidates \u2014 up to about $130,000 for candidates for the\u00a0House of Representatives\u00a0and more than $4 million for candidates for the\u00a0Senate. But now, a majority of the justices have said no to any limits on that spending at all.<\/p>\n

Failed scrutiny<\/h4>\n

The\u00a0Supreme Court\u00a0has long held that even laws that restrict constitutional rights are permissible so long as they pass what is known as \u201cstrict scrutiny,\u201d a standard that requires restrictions to advance a compelling government interest and be narrowly tailored to achieve that interest.<\/p>\n

But the 54-year-old campaign finance law failed that test, according to the justices. Writing for the majority, Justice\u00a0Brett Kavanaugh\u00a0focused on \u201cthe important and traditional role of political parties during campaigns.\u201d He reasoned that coordination limits weren\u2019t permissible because they \u201cimpair the party\u2019s traditional forms of communication such as advertisements; preclude parties from amplifying the voice of their adherents; impose additional monetary costs and burdens on political parties; and inflict a stifling effect on the ability of the party to do what it exists to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

The NRSC had argued that the purpose of the Federal Election Campaign Act \u2014 to reduce the influence of money in politics \u2014 was invalid and that the only basis for constitutional restrictions is to prevent quid pro quo corruption, that is, the direct payment of money in exchange for official acts. In fact, the challengers argued that a decision removing the limits on expenditures by political parties would, in fact, provide greater transparency in campaign finance. In their reasoning, large donors would no longer need to funnel their contributions through Super PACs, which are not required to disclose their donor lists, and instead make contributions to parties, which are.<\/p>\n

Read more Asking Eric: He said we were barred from his wedding but we got an invitation<\/a><\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

Since Citizen\u2019s United v.\u00a0FEC\u00a0in 2010, which recognized political spending by cooperations and unions as a form of free speech, large donors have enjoyed outsized influence on American elections. In 2024, for example, Super PACs spent more than $2.6 billion on elections. Tech CEO\u00a0Elon Musk\u00a0alone donated more than $240 million to pro-Trump Super PACs. The idea that corruption is the only compelling government interest that is legally permissible is an overreach by the\u00a0Supreme Court\u00a0into the province of the legislative branch.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0Democratic National Committee\u00a0(DNC), as an intervening party to the case, had oppositely argued that unlimited coordinated spending would effectively erode limits on contributions. Because money is fungible, by paying a candidate\u2019s bills, a party is essentially handing him cash, undermining any limits on contributions.<\/p>\n

Dissenting alarm<\/h4>\n

In Justice Elena Kagan\u2019s dissent, joined by Justices\u00a0Sonia Sotomayor\u00a0and\u00a0Ketanji Brown Jackson, she agreed that the court was opening the door to the very kind of corruption the statute was meant to prevent: that striking down the law would allow donors to circumvent donor limits. \u201c[A] candidate could ask a donor to make a substantial contribution to the party so as to finance his own campaign expenses,\u201d Kagan wrote. \u201cThe donor could give far more to the party than to the candidate directly, understanding that the money would be passed through to the candidate.\u201d<\/p>\n

The writing appeared to be on the wall when the justices accepted the case for consideration last year. The lower courts had rejected the challenge, citing the high court\u2019s 2001 decision in\u00a0FEC\u00a0v. Colorado Federal Republican Campaign Committee, which had upheld the limits. And there\u2019s no need for the high court to take up a case just to follow precedent. Instead, they overturned it.<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

With the Federal Election Campaign Act in 1972,\u00a0Congress\u00a0had sought to reduce the amount of money in politics to protect ordinary voters from being overshadowed by the influence of wealthy donors. After the gutting of a key provision, however, those with the means can now flood the airwaves with their support of a candidate, even if their interests are out of step with the American people.<\/p>\n

By refusing to permit even reasonable limits on coordinated expenditures in campaign financing, is it any surprise that\u00a0U.S.\u00a0politics skew in favor of the wealthy and the powerful?<\/p>\n

Barbara McQuade is a professor at the University of Michigan Law school, a former U.S. attorney and author of the forthcoming book, \u201cThe Fix: Saving America from the Corruption of a Mob-Style Government.\u201d \u00a92026 Bloomberg. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency.<\/em><\/p>\n

Read more Harriette Cole: Why should I be chipper just because I work from home?<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By striking down campaign finance limits, a conservative majority is making it easier to buy election outcomes<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3954,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3955","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinion"],"yoast_head":"\nOpinion: The Supreme Court just gave the rich even more political power - Next City Digest<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=3955\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Opinion: The Supreme Court just gave the rich even more political power - Next City Digest\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By striking down campaign finance limits, a conservative majority is making it easier to buy election outcomes\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=3955\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Next City Digest\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-07T10:38:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=3955#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=3955\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/13065d40d633843429ac57d4e5c06f9b\"},\"headline\":\"Opinion: The Supreme Court just gave the rich even more political power\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-07T10:38:51+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=3955\"},\"wordCount\":976,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=3955#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/1bc04d86011fb17e2ded8cbeb2b9178c.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"Opinion\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=3955#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=3955\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=3955\",\"name\":\"Opinion: The Supreme Court just gave the rich even more political power - 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