2022 United States Supreme Court case
FEC v. Ted Cruz for Senate |
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Argued January 19, 2022 Decided May 16, 2022 |
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Full case name | Federal Election Commission v. Ted Cruz for Senate and Senator Rafael Edward "Ted" Cruz |
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Docket no. | 21-12 |
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Citations | 596 U.S. 289 (more) |
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Argument | Oral argument |
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Holding |
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Section 304 of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 (52 U.S.C. 30116(j)) is unconstitutional because it burdens core political speech. |
Court membership |
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- Chief Justice
- John Roberts
- Associate Justices
- Clarence Thomas · Stephen Breyer
Samuel Alito · Sonia Sotomayor Elena Kagan · Neil Gorsuch Brett Kavanaugh · Amy Coney Barrett |
Case opinions |
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Majority | Roberts, joined by Thomas, Alito, Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, Barrett |
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Dissent | Kagan, joined by Breyer, Sotomayor |
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Laws applied |
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U.S. Const. amend. I |
Federal Election Commission v. Ted Cruz for Senate, 596 U.S. 289 (2022), was a case related to the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. The Supreme Court of the United States struck down section 304 of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002, which limited the amount of money that candidates could be paid on personal loans to their campaign.[1]
Background
Section 304 of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (BCRA) of 2002 (52 U.S.C. § 30116(j)) precludes candidates for Congress from using greater than $250,000 in post-election contributions each cycle to pay off debt the campaigns owe to the candidates. Campaigns can repay loans in excess of US$250,000 in full within 20 days of the election and using pre-election funds, but otherwise loan repayments were capped at that amount afterwards. The purpose of the provision was to prevent candidates from receiving bribes; If a candidate made a loan to their own campaign, and charged interest on the loan, then people and lobbyists could donate money to a candidate's election campaign, of which the money could be used to pay off the loan the candidate made and benefit the candidate's personal wealth.[2]
As part of his re-election campaign for the U.S. Senate seat from Texas in 2018, Senator Ted Cruz loaned $260,000 to his campaign. The campaign failed to repay his loan within 20 days of the election, so later repaid him the maximum amount by law, leaving Cruz $10,000 of his loan. Cruz and his election committee sued the Federal Election Commission (FEC), which oversees violations of election financing, in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. Cruz and his campaign argued that BCRA's limit on repayment violated Cruz's First Amendment rights since it placed a limit on his ability to spend for free speech. The FEC argued that the election committee, on the day before the election, had more than $2.2 million in funds which they could have paid Cruz within the 20-day window but purposely waited until after the window as to create a vehicle to challenge BCRA, making Cruz's losses self-inflicted. The three-judge panel at the district court ruled unanimously in Cruz's favor. Judge Neomi Rao, in the court opinion, "Protections for political speech extend to campaign financing because effective speech requires spending money" and that "the loan-repayment limit intrudes on fundamental rights of speech and association without serving a substantial government interest"[3]
Supreme Court
On August 24, 2021, the Federal Election Commission filed to dismiss the motion on a lack of standing. The request was denied.[1]
The FEC appealed the case to the Supreme Court, on the question of whether the loan repayment limits of BCRA did violate the First Amendment. Oral arguments were heard on January 19, 2022.
The court released its decision on May 16, 2022. The 6–3 decision, falling along the court's ideological lines, was written by Chief Justice John Roberts and joined by Justices Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett, and upheld the decision of the D.C. Appellate Court and that the loan repayment stipulation of BCRA was unconstitutional. Roberts wrote that BCRA "burdens core political speech without proper justification", and argued that such personal loans "will sometimes be the only way for an unknown challenger with limited connections to front-load campaign spending. And early spending — and thus early expression — is critical to a newcomer's success."[3]
Justice Elena Kagan wrote the dissenting opinion joined by Stephen Breyer and Sonia Sotomayor. Kagan wrote "Repaying a candidate's loan after he has won election cannot serve the usual purposes of a contribution: The money comes too late to aid in any of his campaign activities. All the money does is enrich the candidate personally at a time when he can return the favor — by a vote, a contract, an appointment. It takes no political genius to see the heightened risk of corruption."[3]
References
- ^ a b Robert, John (May 16, 2022). "Federal Election Commission v. Ted Cruz for Senate et al" (PDF). Supreme Court of the United States – via SupremeCourt.gov.
- ^ Millhiser, Ian (January 12, 2022). "The Supreme Court takes up a case, brought by Ted Cruz, that could legalize bribery". Vox. Retrieved May 16, 2022.
- ^ a b c Liptak, Adam (May 16, 2022). "Supreme Court Rules for Ted Cruz in Campaign Finance Case". The New York Times. Retrieved May 18, 2022.
External links
- Text of FEC v. Ted Cruz for Senate, 596 U.S. ___ (2022) is available from: Google Scholar Justia Oyez (oral argument audio) Supreme Court (slip opinion)
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Public displays and ceremonies | |
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Statutory religious exemptions | |
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Public funding | |
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Religion in public schools | |
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Private religious speech | |
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Internal church affairs | |
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Taxpayer standing | |
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Blue laws | |
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Other | |
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Unprotected speech | Incitement and sedition | |
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Libel and false speech | |
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Fighting words and the heckler's veto | |
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True threats | |
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Obscenity | - Rosen v. United States (1896)
- United States v. One Book Called Ulysses (S.D.N.Y. 1933)
- Roth v. United States (1957)
- One, Inc. v. Olesen (1958)
- Smith v. California (1959)
- Marcus v. Search Warrant (1961)
- MANual Enterprises, Inc. v. Day (1962)
- Jacobellis v. Ohio (1964)
- Quantity of Books v. Kansas (1964)
- Ginzburg v. United States (1966)
- Memoirs v. Massachusetts (1966)
- Redrup v. New York (1967)
- Ginsberg v. New York (1968)
- Stanley v. Georgia (1969)
- United States v. Thirty-seven Photographs (1971)
- Kois v. Wisconsin (1972)
- Miller v. California (1973)
- Paris Adult Theatre I v. Slaton (1973)
- United States v. 12 200-ft. Reels of Film (1973)
- Jenkins v. Georgia (1974)
- Southeastern Promotions, Ltd. v. Conrad (1975)
- Erznoznik v. City of Jacksonville (1975)
- Young v. American Mini Theatres, Inc. (1976)
- Vance v. Universal Amusement Co., Inc. (1980)
- American Booksellers Ass'n, Inc. v. Hudnut (7th Cir. 1985)
- People v. Freeman (Cal. 1988)
- United States v. X-Citement Video, Inc. (1994)
- Reno v. ACLU (1997)
- United States v. Playboy Entertainment Group, Inc. (2000)
- City of Los Angeles v. Alameda Books, Inc. (2002)
- Ashcroft v. ACLU I (2002)
- United States v. American Library Ass'n (2003)
- Ashcroft v. ACLU II (2004)
- Nitke v. Gonzales (S.D.N.Y. 2005)
- United States v. Williams (2008)
- American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression v. Strickland (6th Cir. 2009)
- United States v. Kilbride (9th Cir. 2009)
- United States v. Stevens (2010)
- Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Ass'n (2011)
- FCC v. Fox Television Stations, Inc. (2012)
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Speech integral to criminal conduct | |
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Strict scrutiny | |
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Vagueness | |
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Symbolic speech versus conduct | |
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Content-based restrictions | |
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Content-neutral restrictions | |
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Compelled speech | |
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Compelled subsidy of others' speech | |
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Government grants and subsidies | |
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Government as speaker | |
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Loyalty oaths | |
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School speech | |
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Public employees | |
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Hatch Act and similar laws | |
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Licensing and restriction of speech | |
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Commercial speech | - Valentine v. Chrestensen (1942)
- Rowan v. U.S. Post Office Dept. (1970)
- Pittsburgh Press Co. v. Pittsburgh Comm'n on Human Relations (1973)
- Lehman v. Shaker Heights (1974)
- Goldfarb v. Virginia State Bar (1975)
- Bigelow v. Virginia (1975)
- Virginia State Pharmacy Bd. v. Virginia Citizens Consumer Council (1976)
- Linmark Assoc., Inc. v. Township of Willingboro (1977)
- Carey v. Population Services International (1977)
- Bates v. State Bar of Arizona (1977)
- In re Primus (1978)
- Ohralik v. Ohio State Bar Association (1978)
- Friedman v. Rogers (1979)
- Consol. Edison Co. v. Public Serv. Comm'n (1980)
- Central Hudson Gas & Electric Corp. v. Public Service Commission (1980)
- Metromedia, Inc. v. San Diego (1981)
- In re R.M.J. (1982)
- Hoffman Estates v. The Flipside, Hoffman Estates, Inc. (1982)
- Zauderer v. Off. of Disciplinary Counsel of Supreme Court of Ohio (1985)
- Pacific Gas & Electric Co. v. Public Utilities Comm'n of California (1986)
- Posadas de Puerto Rico Assoc. v. Tourism Co. of Puerto Rico (1986)
- San Francisco Arts & Athletics, Inc. v. U.S. Olympic Committee (1987)
- Shapero v. Kentucky Bar Association (1988)
- Riley v. Nat'l Fed'n of the Blind (1988)
- State University of New York v. Fox (1989)
- Peel v. Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission of Illinois (1990)
- City of Cincinnati v. Discovery Network (1993)
- Edenfield v. Fane (1993)
- United States v. Edge Broadcasting Co. (1993)
- Ibanez v. Florida Dept. of Business and Professional Regulation, Bd. of Accountancy (1994)
- Lebron v. National Railroad Passenger Corp. (1995)
- Rubin v. Coors Brewing Co. (1995)
- Florida Bar v. Went For It, Inc. (1995)
- 44 Liquormart, Inc. v. Rhode Island (1996)
- Glickman v. Wileman Brothers & Elliot, Inc. (1997)
- Greater New Orleans Broadcasting Assn., Inc. v. United States (1999)
- Los Angeles Police Department v. United Reporting Publishing Co. (1999)
- United States v. United Foods Inc. (2001)
- Lorillard Tobacco Co. v. Reilly (2001)
- Thompson v. Western States Medical Center (2002)
- Nike, Inc. v. Kasky (2003)
- Johanns v. Livestock Marketing Ass'n (2005)
- Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Assn. v. Brentwood Academy (2007)
- Milavetz, Gallop & Milavetz, P.A. v. United States (2010)
- Jerman v. Carlisle, McNellie, Rini, Kramer & Ulrich LPA (2010)
- Sorrell v. IMS Health Inc. (2011)
- Expressions Hair Design v. Schneiderman (2017)
- Matal v. Tam (2017)
- Iancu v. Brunetti (2019)
- Barr v. American Association of Political Consultants (2020)
- Vidal v. Elster (2024)
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Campaign finance and political speech | |
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Anonymous speech | |
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State action | |
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Official retaliation | |
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Boycotts | |
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Prisons | |
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Organizations | |
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Future Conduct | |
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Solicitation | |
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Membership restriction | |
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Primaries and elections | |
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