The Supreme Court could throw a major wrench into campaign finance laws next year, which may open the floodgates for money in politics.
Bloomberg’s Al Hunt looks at a case that will be argued in front of the high court in October that challenges the limits individuals can give directly to campaigns and parties.Â
Right now each individual is limited to $74,600 in total contributions to party committees and $48,600 to candidates during each election cycle. If the court strikes down those limits, Hunt speculates on what it might mean:
Let’s say that for 2016, a presidential candidate — Hillary Clinton, for example — set up what’s called a joint fundraising committee. She could then ask, among others, the Hollywood mogul and Democratic money man Jeffrey Katzenberg to give directly almost $1.2 million to her committee, in addition to his other political spending.
That would include the maximum allowed to her campaign, $5,200; the maximum to the three party committees, $194,400; and the maximum to all 50 state parties, $20,000 each or $1 million. Although most of this money is supposed to go to state parties or other campaign committees, the Clinton campaign would effectively control it. That adds considerable value and clout for any donor.
