Ted Cruz wins Supreme Court case challenging campaign reimbursement restriction
The Supreme Court ruled in favor of Sen. Ted Cruz over the Biden administration in a dispute over a campaign finance regulation.
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Texas Senator Ted Cruz campaigns with Pennylvania Senate hopeful Dave McCormick, here he pretends to hold a peanut while making a joke about wearing masks to protect against Covid-19.
Aimee Dilger | Lightrocket | Getty Images
The Supreme Court on Monday ruled in favor of Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, in his challenge of a campaign finance law limiting the use of post-election funds to reimburse candidates who lend large sums to their own campaigns.
The court in a 6-3 decision ruled that the regulation in question "burdens core political speech without proper justification." The majority was also unconvinced by the Biden administration's argument that the regulation helps avoid the appearance of political corruption in the government.
The decision split the conservative-majority court along ideological lines, with liberal justices arguing in dissent.
The regulation barred campaigns from using more than $250,000 in post-election funds to repay a candidate's loans to fund those campaigns.
"The theory of the legislation is easy to grasp. Political contributions that will line a candidate's own pockets, given after his election to office, pose a special danger of corruption," liberal Justice Elena Kagan wrote in her dissent.
Without the rule, "The politician is happy; the donors are happy. The only loser is the public. It inevitably suffers from government corruption," Kagan wrote.
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