The U.S. Supreme Court upheld a ban on the use of “soft money” in elections. The Republican National Committee had argued that the ban violated First Amendment rights. -db
June 29, 2010
By Hillary Stemple
By Hillary Stemple
[JURIST] The US Supreme Court [official website; JURIST news archive] on Tuesday summarily affirmed [order list, PDF] a lower court’s ruling [JURIST report] in Republican National Committee v. Federal Elections Commission [materials], upholding a ban on the use of “soft money” in elections.
The Federal Election Campaign Act [text] prohibits national political parties from soliciting, receiving or spending non-federal campaign funds in conjunction with federal campaign funds for certain federal election activities. The Republican National Committee (RNC) [party website] argued that the ban was overbroad and a violation of First Amendment [text] rights. Justices Antonin Scalia, Anthony Kennedy and Clarence Thomas noted they would allow the case to proceed to oral arguments.
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