Supreme Court strikes down federal limit on party campaign spending

The Supreme Court struck down a longstanding federal campaign spending limit, ruling that political parties can now spend unlimited amounts in coordination with their federal candidates, as long as they otherwise comply with campaign finance laws.

The 6-3 vote in the case National Republican Senatorial Committee v. Federal Election Commission saw all the conservative justices in the majority, ruling against the restriction in the Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA).

“In short, constitutional text, history, and precedent establish that the political-party coordinated-expenditure limits violate the First Amendment,” Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote in the majority opinion. “Importantly, by holding FECA’s political-party coordinated-expenditure restrictions unconstitutional, the Court’s decision today treats all political parties equally.”

Then-Senator JD Vance, R-Ohio, was among those who brought the original lawsuit to remove the spending limits in 2022, along with the Republican senatorial and congressional committees.

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The Supreme Court is seen on Capitol Hill in Washington, Dec. 17, 2024.   (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

Democrats had called on the Court to uphold the law, even though there is wide agreement that the spending limits have hurt political parties in an era of unlimited spending by other organizations.

Justices Elena Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented. Kagan wrote in her dissenting opinion that “today, the Court rewrites the rules, to allow circumvention of the contribution limits.”

Justices of the US Supreme Court pose for their official photo at the Supreme Court in Washington, DC on October 7, 2022. (OLIVIER DOULIERY/AFP via Getty Images)

“The majority invalidates Congress’s restriction of coordinated expenditures, thus enabling a party to serve as an alternative checking account for a campaign,” Kagan wrote.

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The limits on party spending stem from a desire to prevent large donors from skirting caps on individual contributions to a candidate by directing unlimited sums to the party, with the understanding that the money will be spent on behalf of the candidate.

The Supreme Court had previously upheld the limits in 2001.

President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance. (Kent NISHIMURA / AFP via Getty Images, File)

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The ruling comes ahead of the November midterm elections, as President Donald Trump and Republicans work to maintain the the GOP’s congressional majorities.

Fox News’ Shannon Bream and Bill Mears, along with The Associated Press contributed to this report.