U.S. Supreme Court to consider Senator Cruz's campaign finance challenge
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[October 01, 2021]
By Andrew Chung
(Reuters) -The U.S. Supreme Court on
Thursday agreed to hear the Federal Election Commission's bid to restore
a campaign finance law that caps the amount of money that candidates can
be reimbursed for personal loans to their campaigns in a challenge
brought by Republican Senator Ted Cruz.
Democratic President Joe Biden's administration, acting on behalf of the
FEC, appealed a lower court ruling that found that the cap violates the
U.S. Constitution's First Amendment guarantee of freedom of speech by
unjustifiably burdening political expression.
The case involves a provision of a 2002 campaign finance law that limits
the amount of money that candidates can accept from donors after an
election as they try to recoup money they personally lent to their
formal campaign organizations.
The measure - part of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act - imposes a
ceiling of $250,000 on payments from donations made after an election
even if candidates made loans exceeding that sum.
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Cruz sued the FEC, challenging the constitutionality of the law that the
agency enforces, after his successful 2018 Senate re-election race in
Texas against Democratic rival Beto O'Rourke. Cruz had lent his campaign
organization $260,000 but was limited by the law to a $250,000
reimbursement from his campaign.
The commission has said the law reduces what is known as quid pro quo
corruption - a Latin phrase meaning a favor for a favor - and the
appearance of corruption by limiting the amount of money solicited by
candidates after an election to repay campaign debt.
Cruz spokesperson Steve Guest praised the court's decision to hear the
case.
"Existing FEC rules benefit incumbent politicians and the super wealthy
by making it harder for challengers to run for office," Guest said.
Campaign finance watchdogs have said the practice at issue in the case
increases donor expectation for official favors.
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![](../images/100121PIX/news_J17.jpg)
U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) speaks during a television interview
in response to U.S. President Joe Biden's first address to a joint
session of the U.S. Congress, at the U.S. Capitol in Washington,
U.S., April 28, 2021. REUTERS/Erin Scott/File Photo
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"What should concern all voters here is the simple
fact that funds raised after the date of an election are not the
same as typical campaign funds - they come with a much higher risk
for corruption," said Paul Smith, an attorney with the Campaign
Legal Center.
"These funds can functionally serve as a personal gift to the
candidate from sources that voters might disapprove of or a donor
with a more apparent quid pro quo," Smith added.
A Washington-based panel of three federal judges in June unanimously
struck down the reimbursement as unconstitutional, calling the
government's arguments about undue influence hypothetical.
The administration warned of a "heightened risk of actual and
apparent quid pro quo corruption" and said Cruz did not have proper
legal standing to pursue the case because the loan and repayment
were made expressly for the purpose of challenging the law in court.
Cruz, who unsuccessfully sought his party's 2016 presidential
nomination and later became a prominent supporter of former
President Donald Trump, was first elected to represent Texas in the
U.S. Senate in 2012.
The justices begin their new nine-month term on Monday. The Cruz
case will be heard early in 2022 with a ruling due by the end of
June.
(Reporting by Andrew Chung in New York; Editing by Will Dunham)
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