Davis v. Federal Election Commission
The Court Strikes Down the Federal “Millionaire’s Amendment”
On June 26, 2008, the Supreme Court ruled that provisions of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (BCRA), known as the Millionaire’s Amendment, unconstitutionally burden the First Amendment rights of self-financed candidates. The decision overturned an earlier ruling by the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia that the Millionaire’s Amendment posed no threat to self-financed candidates’ First Amendment or Equal Protection rights. Background On March 30, 2006, plaintiff Jack Davis declared his candidacy for the House seat in New York’s 26th District. Davis intended to spend over $350,000 of his own funds on his campaign, expenditures which…
