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The Supreme Court recently ruled in a case called McCutcheon v. Federal Election Committee. The man who started this case is called Shaun McCutcheon. He is a resident of Alabama and is a wealthy business owner. The law that limits spending was made in 1970 and it regulated that only $123,000 was able to be given to a candidate per election. Shaun McCutcheon believed that any donor should be able to give as much as he/she wants to give no matter the candidate. McCutcheon argues that this case was a type of 'freedom of speech' and he and other donors that wanted to do this were protected under the 1st Amendment. The Supreme Court decided to reject the limits in federal law on the overall campaign contributions that the biggest individual donors are allowed to contribute. The Justices ruled 5-4, and decided that all American's can give the amount that they want too without fear of breaking any government laws. Billions of dollars can now be donated to a candidate without a cap and this case will either be good or bad in the next elections.

I can understand the pro's and con's of The Supreme Court's ruling. I understand why some people would not want it enacted, and why other people would want it enacted. Either way money is a huge topic in elections, and to not put a cap on it seems to be against what our founding fathers wanted when they originally drafted The Constitution. Money makes things muddy, and it can be difficult to see how not capping the amount allowed to be given can cause an election to be run by PAC money instead of an election "By The People." 

References:

Lavender, Paige. "McCutcheon v. FEC: Supreme Court Strikes Down Overall Limits On Campaign Contributions." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 02 Apr. 2014. Web. 23 Apr. 2014.

McCutcheon V. Federal Election Commission. (2014, April 2). Supremecourt.gov.Retrieved April 22, 2014, from, http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/13pdf/12-536_e1pf.pdf

Wolf, Richard, and Fredreka Schouten. "Supreme Court Lifts Ban on Aggregate Campaign Donations." USA Today. Gannett, 02 Apr. 2014. Web. 20 Apr. 2014.