Donors: Give—OK; Get—Not
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Authors
Etzioni, Amitai
Issue Date
2020
Volume
53
Issue
3
Type
Journal Article
Language
Keywords
Alternative Title
Abstract
INTRODUCTION|This Article takes for granted that the great amount of campaign contributions donated to individuals who are seeking election or reelection to Congress has reached a level that seriously undermines the democratic system. Many suggestions have been made on ways to limit the contributions donors can give. This Article, taking into account that the United States Supreme Court holds these limitations tend to offend the freedom of speech (roughly summed up in the phrase “money is speech”), asks whether one could limit what the donors can get for their contributions. The “money is speech” concept derived from the Supreme Court’s ruling in Buckley v. Valeo, which struck down independent expenditure limits as a violation of the First Amendment. However, it was never stated quite that explicitly. The Court reasoned that “[t]he expenditure limitations . . . represent substantial rather than merely theoretical restraints on the quantity and diversity of political speech.”
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Citation
Publisher
Creighton University School of Law