Feds' flip-flop threatens GOP push to snip campaign finance limits at SCOTUS
Source: Courthouse News Service
December 5, 2025
WASHINGTON (CN) — President Donald Trump’s vow not to enforce limits on campaign spending between political parties and candidates threw a wrench into the Republican effort to wipe out the regulation for good next week at the Supreme Court.
The Constitution grants judicial authority over cases and controversies, but the federal government’s abandonment of the cap statute and the fact that none of the plaintiffs qualify to be regulated by it throw the Supreme Court’s jurisdiction into doubt.
“This case raises fundamental questions not just about the First Amendment, but also about the court’s power to declare a federal law unconstitutional in the absence of a real-world controversy,” wrote Roman Martinez, an attorney from Latham & Watkins. Martinez is a seasoned advocate who the Supreme Court appointed to defend the statute after the federal government refused to do so. Martinez has argued 15 cases before the high court, securing wins in consequential disputes such as Loper Bright v. Raimondo.
While running for Senate in 2022, now-Vice President JD Vance initiated the challenge to campaign contribution limits that political parties can spend in coordination with a candidate. Two Republican Party committees and former Representative Steve Chabot joined him. But neither Vance nor Chabot are running for office now, and the vice president’s lack of concrete plans for a 2028 White House run were cited as a reason to toss the dispute. As Martinez put it, “that flunks Article 3.”
Read more: https://courthousenews.com/feds-flip-flop-threatens-gop-push-to-snip-campaign-finance-limits-at-scotus/