As campaign finance reform is being challenged at the U.S. Supreme Court, conservative justices are considering overturning the 2001 ruling.
Published December 9, 2025
The conservative-controlled U.S. Supreme Court is considering arguments in a case that could overturn existing limits on political party spending, potentially opening the door to further loosening of campaign finance regulations.
On Tuesday, conservative justices including Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito took a favorable stance toward a Republican-led effort to overturn a 2001 court decision that upheld federal election laws more than 50 years old.
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The U.S. Supreme Court has consistently ruled to loosen limits on political spending in an effort to prevent deep-pocketed interests from playing too much of a role in the political process. Conservative members of the court argued that political spending is constitutionally protected free speech.
In 2010, the court restructured the nation’s campaign finance landscape with its landmark decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, removing previous limits on personal spending. Businesses and donors were eager to take advantage of this, leading to a huge increase in campaign spending.
Spending by super PACS (a type of political action committee that can raise unlimited amounts of money from donors, businesses and other groups) rose from $62.6 million in 2010, the year of the ruling, to $622.7 million two years later, according to transparency watchdog Open Secret. By 2024, that number had soared to $4.1 billion.
Since Citizens United, the court has continued to chip away at the limits with a series of additional rulings.
Noel Francisco, a lawyer for the Republican challengers, told the justices that “adjusted party spending limits are inconsistent with this court’s recent First Amendment cases.”
Some of the court’s liberal justices pointed to the surge in political spending associated with previous campaign finance decisions.
“If we eliminate the adjusted spending limits, what is left?” Justice Sonya Sotomayor asked. “There is nothing left. There is no control.”
The court action, filed by two Republican committees on behalf of House and Senate candidates, was first filed in Ohio in 2022 when both Ohio Republicans Steve Chabot and current Vice President J.D. Vance were running for the Senate.
The Trump administration joined calls to repeal an earlier federal election law aimed at blocking arrangements in which wealthy donors bypass personal spending limits and direct their money to political parties with the understanding that the money will be spent to support a particular candidate.
Addressing Sotomayor’s concerns, Francisco said, “More speeches are always better than fewer.”
