Press Release
AALDEF Joins Brief Urging Supreme Court to Uphold Campaign Contribution Limits
The Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF) has joined an amicus brief urging the U.S. Supreme Court to uphold aggregate contribution limits in the lawsuit McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission (FEC).
Under existing campaign finance laws, there is a $2,600 limit on donations by an individual to a single candidate, party organization or political action committee, and a $123,200 aggregate limit on donations by a single individual to all federal candidates and committees in a single election cycle. The lawsuit challenges the aggregate limit.
AALDEF’s amicus brief, authored by legal counsel at the Campaign Legal Center, contends that without the aggregate cap, a single wealthy donor could funnel more than $3.6 million to federal candidates and parties in just one election cycle, and millions more through donations to political action committees. Contributions of this size would enable domination of elections by a few individuals to the detriment of our democratic process. The aggregate contribution limits are therefore necessary to prevent corruption in the form of wealthy donors having undue influence over elected officials.
The Supreme Court has scheduled oral arguments in McCutcheon v. FEC for Oct. 8, 2013.
Groups joining in the brief include AALDEF, Campaign Legal Center, Common Cause, AARP, Asian Americans Advancing Justice, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, the League of Women Voters of the United States, Progressives United and Public Campaign.
Contact:
Ujala Sehgal
212.966.5932 x217
usehgal@aaldef.org