Supreme Court to Decide GOP Challenge to Campaign Spending Curbs

Supreme Court to Rule on Challenge to Federal Limits on Coordinated Party Expenditures

The U.S. Supreme Court is scheduled to issue a decision on June 30 in a case brought by Republican plaintiffs challenging federal limits on coordinated expenditures between political parties and candidates. The case originated with a 2022 lawsuit filed by then-Senate candidate JD Vance of Ohio, former Representative Steve Chabot of Ohio, and two Republican Party committees.

A lower court upheld the limits. The central question is whether the statutory cap on coordinated party spending violates the First Amendment. The Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 sets the rules for such spending. Under the statute, expenditures by a party committee that are not made in coordination with a candidate are treated as independent expenditures and are not subject to the dollar caps that apply to coordinated spending. Coordinated expenditures remain subject to limits that vary by state population. In 2025 those limits ranged from approximately $127,000 to $3.9 million for Senate races and from approximately $63,000 to $127,000 for House races.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit upheld the limits in 2024, relying on a 2001 Supreme Court precedent that addressed the same statutory provisions. The plaintiffs argued that subsequent changes in campaign-finance law and Supreme Court precedent have undermined the basis for that earlier decision and asked the justices to overrule it.

The Federal Election Commission, under the Trump administration, declined to defend the challenged provision. The Supreme Court appointed attorney Roman Martinez to present the defense of the statute. The Democratic National Committee, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee were permitted to intervene to defend the limits.

The Republican National Committee, the National Republican Congressional Committee, and the National Republican Senatorial Committee reported combined cash reserves at the end of May that exceeded those reported by the three corresponding Democratic committees. The Democratic committees also reported outstanding debt. The financial positions of the committees have been cited by observers in discussions of the practical effects of the spending limits at issue.

Since 2010 the Supreme Court has issued several decisions that narrowed aspects of federal campaign-finance regulation. Those rulings struck down limits on independent expenditures by corporations and unions and eliminated the aggregate cap on individual contributions to federal candidates and parties. The current case concerns only the narrower category of coordinated party expenditures.

The June 30 decision will conclude the Court's term that began in October. The ruling arrives as both parties prepare for the November midterm elections. In a separate action on June 29, the Court upheld state laws permitting the counting of mail ballots received after Election Day, rejecting challenges to a five-day receipt window in Mississippi. In April the Court limited the reach of a provision of the Voting Rights Act, a decision that has prompted several states to adopt new congressional district maps.

The coordinated-expenditure limits were enacted to address concerns about corruption arising from large contributions that are effectively controlled by candidates. The plaintiffs contend that the limits restrict political speech protected by the First Amendment and that modern campaign practices and disclosure rules have reduced the risk of corruption that the limits were intended to prevent. The parties defending the limits argue that the restrictions remain consistent with the Court's earlier precedent and continue to serve the government's interest in preventing circumvention of contribution caps.

The case is one of several this term that address election-related statutes. The Court's composition includes six justices appointed by Republican presidents and three appointed by Democratic presidents. The June 30 ruling will determine whether the existing statutory caps on coordinated party spending remain in force for the current election cycle.