Supreme court to hear case that could further erode campaign spending limits
The National Republican Senatorial Committee, National Republican Congressional Committee, Vance and Steve Chabot, a former Republican congressman from Ohio, are challenging limits set on how much political parties can spend in coordination with candidates. The case was filed when Vance was a senatorial candidate, in 2022.
The court's landmark Citizens United ruling in 2010 threw away limits on outside spending on elections, allowing corporations and unions to inject unlimited money into elections as a matter of free speech.
The current challenge from Republicans makes a similar argument, claiming that limits on how much spending can be coordinated with a campaign impede their first amendment rights.
It also comes at a time where unfettered outside spending has become a norm in US politics. The case is challenging limits to what is called 'coordinated' spending between a party and the campaign, while independent expenditures, those often made by political action committees, have been unlimited since Citizens United.
The limits themselves vary depending on population and which office a candidate is seeking. On the low end, a candidate for the US House of Representatives in a state with multiple representatives would be limited to $63,600, while a Senatecandidate in a state with a large voting age population would be nearly $4m.
The US court of appeals for the sixth circuit upheld the limits based on a prior supreme court ruling in 2001 on coordinated spending, but the plaintiffs have argued this 2001 decision is outdated given other more recent campaign finance decisions.
The Trump administration filed a brief in the case that aligned with Republicans, and the justice department called on the supreme court to consider the case. Democratic groups have asked to intervene to defend the existing limits.
The case will be heard in the court's next term, which starts in October. ScotusBlog, the much-watched website written by lawyers and legal scholars, says the case 'may be the first potential blockbuster of October term 2025'.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Associated Press
7 minutes ago
- Associated Press
UPenn to ban transgender athletes, feds say, ending civil rights case focused on swimmer Lia Thomas
WASHINGTON (AP) — The University of Pennsylvania has agreed to ban transgender women from its women's sports teams to resolve a federal civil rights case that found the school violated the rights of female athletes. The U.S. Education Department announced the voluntary agreement Tuesday. The case focused on Lia Thomas, the transgender swimmer who last competed for the Ivy League school in Philadelphia in 2022, when she became the first openly transgender athlete to win a Division I title. It's part of the Trump administration's broader attempt to remove transgender athletes from girls' and women's sports. Under the agreement, Penn agreed to restore all individual Division I swimming records and titles to female athletes who lost out to Thomas, the Education Department said. Penn also agreed to send a personalized apology letter to each of those swimmers. It wasn't immediately clear whether Thomas would be stripped of her awards and honors at Penn. The university must also announce that it 'will not allow males to compete in female athletic programs' and it must adopt 'biology-based' definitions of male and female, the department said. Education Secretary Linda McMahon called it a victory for women and girls. 'The Department commends UPenn for rectifying its past harms against women and girls, and we will continue to fight relentlessly to restore Title IX's proper application and enforce it to the fullest extent of the law,' McMahon said in a statement. The Education Department opened its investigation in February and concluded in April that Penn had violated Title IX, a 1972 law forbidding sex discrimination in education. Such findings have almost always been resolved through voluntary agreements. If Penn had fought the finding, the department could have moved to refer the case to the Justice Department or pursued a separate process to cut the school's federal funding. In February, the Education Department asked the NCAA and the National Federation of State High School Associations, or NFSHSA, to restore titles, awards and records it says have been 'misappropriated by biological males competing in female categories.' The most obvious target at the college level was in women's swimming, where Thomas won the national title in the 500-yard freestyle in 2022. The NCAA has updated its record books when recruiting and other violations have stripped titles from certain schools, but the organization, like the NFSHSA, has not responded to the federal government's request. Determining which events had a transgender athlete participating years later would be challenging. ___ The Associated Press' education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP's standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at
Associated Press
11 minutes ago
- Associated Press
Billions in grants for summer school, English instruction delayed during Trump administration review
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration is withholding more than $6 billion in federal grants for afterschool and summer programs, English language instruction, adult literacy and more as part of a review to ensure grants align with President Donald Trump's priorities. The move leaves states and schools in limbo as they budget for programs this summer and in the upcoming school year, introducing new uncertainty about when — or if — they will receive the money. It also sets the stage for a clash with Democrats, who say the administration is flouting the law by holding back money Congress appropriated. Without the money, schools say they won't be able to provide free or affordable afterschool care for low-income kids while their parents work, and they may not be able to hire staff to teach children who are learning English. Programs that rely on the funding were expecting it to be distributed July 1, but an Education Department notice issued Monday announced the money would not be released while the programs are under review. The department did not provide a timeline and warned 'decisions have not yet been made' on grants for the upcoming school year. 'The Department remains committed to ensuring taxpayer resources are spent in accordance with the President's priorities and the Department's statutory responsibilities,' Education Department officials wrote in the notice, which was obtained by The Associated Press. The department referred questions to the Office of Management and Budget, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Some advocates fear the grants are being targeted for elimination, which could force schools to cut programs and teachers. Trump's 2026 budget proposal called for Congress to zero out all of the programs under review, signaling the administration sees them as unnecessary. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., pressed the administration to spend the money as Congress intended. 'Every day that this funding is held up is a day that school districts are forced to worry about whether they'll have to cut back on afterschool programs or lay off teachers instead of worrying about how to make sure our kids can succeed,' Murray said in a statement. A national organization for afterschool programs called the department's action a 'stunning betrayal.' 'Withholding these funds will cause lasting harm to students and families, and to our education system, our future workforce, and our economy,' said Jodi Grant, executive director of the Afterschool Alliance. The six grant programs under review includes one known as 21st Century Community Learning Centers. It's the primary federal funding source for afterschool and summer learning programs and supports more than 10,000 local programs nationwide, according to the alliance. Every state runs its own competition to distribute the grants, which totaled $1.3 billion this fiscal year. Also under review are $2 billion in grants for teachers' professional development and efforts to reduce class size; $1 billion for academic enrichment grants, often used for science and math education and accelerated learning; $890 million for students who are learning English; $376 million to educate the children of migrant workers; and $715 million to teach adults how to read. California's education agency said it was notified Monday that it wouldn't be receiving money from those programs. 'Trump is illegally impounding billions of dollars appropriated by Congress to serve students this fiscal year,' Tony Thurmond, California's state superintendent, said in a statement. 'The Administration is punishing children when states refuse to cater to Trump's political ideology.' The administration had signaled its desire to cut much of the money in an April letter to Sen. Susan Collins, chair of the Senate Committee on Appropriations. In that letter, Russell Vought, director of the Office of Management and Budget, said cutting money for teaching kids to speak English would help 'end overreach from Washington and restore the rightful role of State oversight in education.' 'They're trying to send a message,' said Amaya Garcia, who oversees education research at New America, a left-leaning think tank. 'They don't believe that taxpayer funding should be used for these children.' ___ The Associated Press' education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP's standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at
Washington Post
15 minutes ago
- Washington Post
The ‘big beautiful bill' is being enacted in an ugly way
Senate Republicans unveiled a 940-page bill with wide-ranging changes to numerous policy areas just before midnight last Friday — planning to vote on the legislation less than a week later. It was put together so quickly and secretly that even members themselves don't understand how certain provisions made it into the legislation. It's very unpopular with the public. And yet, despite all that, the Senate passed the bill, putting it on the path to being signed into law by President Donald Trump later this week.
