McCutcheon Is One of the Worst Supreme Court Decisions of All Time—Here's What You Need to Know

The Supreme Court just decided an incredibly important case called McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission (FEC). The Court's ruling will allow unprecedented amounts of money to flow directly into our political system. [...]

Under the old aggregate limit, it used to be that the most a donor could show up with was $123,000. Now, one donor can cut a $3.5 million check to a joint fundraising committee. The kind of people who are willing to drop more money than most Americans will make in their entire lives on one election can now wield enormous leverage over entire political parties.

That means a big donor could go to the head of a JFC and says "gee, I'd sure love to send this $3.5 million your way, but I can't do that until I'm sure none of it will go to candidates who support closing a tax loophole I like." Suddenly, the head of that JFC has 3.5 million reasons to call up every single member of his party and make sure that everyone is on the same page about keeping that tax loophole open for another couple of years. At which point everyone has to raise money to run for office again, and the whole cycle starts over.

Read the report: McCutcheon Money: The Projected Impact of Striking Aggregate Contribution Limits