Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1999

Abstract

Our existing federal campaign finance system – the product of Watergate Era legislation and the Supreme Court's 1976 decision in Buckley v. Valeo – is in a state of disarray. The system is no longer capable of accomplishing the goals pursued by Congress and embraced by the Court a quarter-century ago: full disclosure of the sources of campaign money; limitations on large contributions by individuals; prohibitions on the use of corporate and union treasury funds; and voluntary, partial public funding, with spending limits, in the Presidential election. Indeed, the current law may actually have negative consequences, with unindexed contribution limits encouraging evasion, driving up the burdens of fundraising, providing a major role for organized interest groups and bundlers, and placing a premium on the personal wealth of candidates.

Disciplines

Election Law | Law

Comments

Copyright © 1999 Penn Law: Legal Scholarship Repository.

Included in

Election Law Commons

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