Supreme Court takes up major campaign finance case over federal limits on coordinated spending

Washington — The Supreme Court said Monday that it will consider whether federal limits on coordinated spending by political parties in support of their candidates violate the First Amendment.

The court's review of an appeals court ruling that upheld the coordinated spending limits set up a high-stakes campaign finance dispute that will be heard in the court's next term, with a decision expected just months before the 2026 midterm elections. The Supreme Court allowed the Democratic National Committee and other party committees to intervene and participate in the case, since the Justice Department has joined the GOP in calling on the court to strike down the restrictions are unconstitutional. 

The case is likely to join a string of recent rulings from the Supreme Court's conservative majority that have unraveled campaign finance limits as violations of the First Amendment, allowing more money to flow into politics. In its landmark 2010 decision in the case Citizens United v. FEC, the justices struck down prohibitions on political spending by corporations. Four years later, the high court invalidated a limit on the amount of money a donor could contribute to federal candidates in a two-year election cycle.