Sixth Circuit Reckons With SCOTUS Precedent on Campaign Spending

Several Sixth Circuit judges questioned their ability and limits to decide a closely watched campaign finance case during a full-court review Wednesday, given that the US Supreme Court addressed the issue in 2001.

The case before the conservative-leaning US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit centers on limits on coordinated campaign spending between political parties and candidates. The nation’s highest court said those limits were constitutional in 2001 in FEC v. Colorado Republican Federal Campaign Committee, a precedent that Republicans would like to overturn.

But the holding in that case, also known as Colorado II, remains ...