Marc Elias Argues Major Campaign Finance Case Before the U.S. Supreme Court
WASHINGTON, D.C. — On Tuesday, Elias Law Group Chair Marc Elias presented oral argument before the U.S. Supreme Court in NRSC v. FEC, a pivotal campaign finance case brought by the Republican Party that threatens to dismantle longstanding federal limits on coordinated spending between political parties and candidates.
Elias appeared before the Supreme Court on behalf of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC), and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), to defend the constitutionality of coordinated expenditure limits that have been in place for decades.
"Over the past 50 years, this Court has had opportunity to review many campaign finance laws, and it has appropriately treated many of them skeptically. But it has never wavered on one foundational pillar: Congress may limit contributions to candidates,” Elias argued today.
“While the current system imposes strict limits on nearly everyone else, my clients, and the NRSC and the NRCC, are given a special privilege to make millions of dollars of in-kind contributions to candidates. These limits on in-kind contributions are called coordinated expenditures, but they do not pose any meaningful burden on party speech. In fact, the vast majority of them hardly involve speech at all. The practical effect of petitioners' case would be to convert the political parties into mere paymasters to settle invoices from campaign vendors,” Elias continued.
Click HERE for a transcript of today's oral arguments.
Click HERE for an audio recording of today's oral arguments.
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