The Democratic Party wants the Supreme Court to either reject a Republican effort to ease campaign finance restrictions or let Democratic groups go to court to defend the limits on coordinated spending between candidates and political committees — an unusual step Democrats say is necessary after the Department of Justice earlie this month declined to uphold the current contribution limit.
The motion — filed jointly on Friday by the Democratic National Committee, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee — attempts to keep limits in place on so-called “coordinated spending” between candidates and political committees. Republicans have asked that those contributions caps be abolished, arguing the limits needlessly affect how political committees can help their preferred candidates win elections.
But Democrats say the coordinated limits are in place to make sure wealthy donors don’t have a corrupting influence on politicians.