Congress enacted the soft money ban to prevent donors from circumventing limits on direct donations to candidates. Federal
campaign law limits to $10,000 the amount corporate and union
political action committees may donate to a candidate for Congress
or the presidency. Each election cycle, individuals may give a
candidate up to $4,000, up from $2,000 under the old rules.
Friday’s ruling can be appealed directly to the Supreme Court.
A decision by the high court would be the most significant since
1976, when the justices upheld a $1,000 limit on individual
donations to federal candidates while striking down caps on
campaign spending.
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The two major political parties together collected $495.9
million in soft money in the 2002 elections, according to the
Center for Responsive Politics, which tracks campaign finance.
Republicans raised more than Democrats, $250 million to $245.9
million. Soft money made up 53 percent of the money Democrats
raised in 2001 and 2002, while it accounted for 38 percent of the
money Republicans raised in that same period.
Bloomberg News
