Supreme Court Ends Limits on Coordinated Party Campaign Spending

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6-3 on June 30 that federal limits on coordinated party expenditures violate the First Amendment. The decision struck down a lower court ruling that had enforced Federal Election Commission caps on spending by political parties in support of their candidates.

The case is National Republican Senatorial Committee v.

The plaintiffs challenged the commission’s enforcement of the limits. The Trump administration supported the challenge. The Federal Election Commission has lacked a quorum since April 2025 and cannot initiate enforcement actions.

The ruling follows the 2010 Citizens United v. FEC decision, which eliminated federal limits on corporate spending by independent groups, and the 2014 McCutcheon v. FEC decision, which ended aggregate limits on individual contributions across candidates and committees.

Plaintiffs argued that limits on party spending are unnecessary given the absence of restrictions on Super PACs. The law as it stands “severely restrict political party committees from doing what the first amendment entitles them to do: fully associate with and advocate for their own candidates for federal office,” they stated.

Roman Martinez, court-appointed counsel for the FEC, contended that removing the limits would legalize quid pro quo corruption.