In arguments in McCutcheon and Republican National Committee v. Federal Election Commission, the deep divide on the court over First Amendment speech protection and campaign finance limits—last reflected in the 2010 Citizens United v. FEC decision—surfaced again. This time, the constitutional attack was on federal limits on the total amount of money an individual may contribute to candidates and political groups in a two-year election cycle.
With competing hypotheticals, the Roberts Court’s conservatives challenged the government’s argument that the so-called aggregate contribution limits were still needed to combat public corruption, while the moderate-liberal wing sought to bolster the argument.
