Campaign Finance

This past Wednesday, we discussed campaign funding a little bit in our discussion of interest groups. Professor Pitney mentioned that as we move forward, we will talk more about campaign finance and its relation to elections in the United States. The New York Times focused on the topic in a Room for Debate discussion earlier this month when the Supreme Court heard arguments in the McCutcheon v Federal Election Commission case. The debate articles can be found here and a synopsis of the case can be found here. 

The debate brings up the questions: 

• Why have limits on contributions to candidates? 
• Do contribution limits violate the 1st Amendment right to free speech? 
• Do contribution limits help prevent corruption in elections?