McCutcheon v. FEC

McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission
Supreme Court of the United States
Argued October 8, 2013 Decided April 2, 2014
Full case name	Shaun McCutcheon, et al., Appellants v. Federal Election Commission
Docket no.	12-536
Citations	572 U.S. 185 (more) 134 S. Ct. 1434; 188 L. Ed. 2d 468
Argument	Oral argument
Case history
Prior	893 F. Supp. 2d 133 (D.D.C. 2012)
Holding
Limitations on aggregate contributions to campaign finances violate the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.
Court membership
Chief Justice John Roberts Associate Justices Antonin Scalia · Anthony Kennedy Clarence Thomas · Ruth Bader Ginsburg Stephen Breyer · Samuel Alito Sonia Sotomayor · Elena Kagan
Case opinions
Plurality	Roberts, joined by Scalia, Kennedy, Alito
Concurrence	Thomas (in judgment)
Dissent	Breyer, joined by Ginsburg, Sotomayor, Kagan
Laws applied
U.S. Const. amend. I

McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission, 572 U.S. 185 (2014), was a landmark decision of the US Supreme Court on campaign finance. The decision held that Section 441 of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971, which imposed a limit on contributions an individual can make over a two-year period to all national party and federal candidate committees, is unconstitutional.^[1]

The case was argued before the Supreme Court on October 8, 2013,^[2] being brought on appeal after the United States District Court for the District of Columbia dismissed the challenge. It was decided on April 2, 2014, by a 5–4 vote,^[3] reversing the decision below and remanding. Justices Roberts, Scalia, Kennedy, and Alito invalidated "aggregate contribution limits" (amounts one can contribute over the two-year period) as violating the First Amendment. Justice Thomas provided the necessary fifth vote but concurred separately in the judgment, while arguing that all contribution limits are unconstitutional.