The Supreme Court Grapples With Cruz’s Campaign Finance Challenge
A divided Supreme Court on Wednesday grappled with Sen. Ted Cruz’s (R-Texas) challenge to limits on the amount of money candidates can raise from donors to pay off their personal debt after an election.
The questions posed during an hour-long oral argument did not clearly telegraph an outcome. But the justices seemed to split along familiar ideological lines in the highest-profile campaign finance dispute to reach the 6-3 conservative majority court, with at least four of the court’s more conservative members appearing receptive to Cruz’s challenge.
At issue is whether a section of the 2002 Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act violates the First Amendment by setting a $250,000 cap on the amount of post-election funds a candidate can be repaid for personal loans they made to their campaign.
