Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1997

Abstract

Today I begin with a narrow agenda, a single idea, but an extravagant ambition. My narrow agenda is that I wish to address only the topic of campaign spending limits, and only the issue of their constitutionality in the face of First Amendment objections. The policy questions regarding whether spending limits are equitable, efficacious, and/or enforceable are deeply difficult and interesting but beyond my ken on this occasion.

My single idea is that spending limits are best justified on the ground that they protect candidates for office from having to devote an inordinate amount of their time to the task of raising money, time that would be far better spent in a variety of endeavors that directly serve the constitutionally ordained process of political representation.

Disciplines

Election Law | First Amendment | Law

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