Thompson v. Hebdon
Thompson v. Hebdon, 589 U.S. 1, is a United States Supreme Court decision concerning campaign finance. The Ninth Circuit's decision was vacated and remanded by the Supreme Court.
Background
The Supreme Court was asked to review the Ninth' Circuit's decision upholding Alaska's restrictions on campaign finance after the Cato Institute petitioned to the Supreme Court to reverse the Ninth Circuit. Alaska's limit on campaign contributions was $500 per year to an individual candidate and $1,000 per year to a political group.Decision
The Court issued its decision on November 25, 2019, vacating and remanding the Ninth Circuit's decision for further review.Reactions
Although the Supreme Court again ruled against campaign finance regulations in this decision, the court avoided making a sweeping decision that would have called into question other donation limits in other states. Therefore, UC Irvine election law professor Richard L. Hasen said that this was the "least bad way" campaign finance reform groups could have lost this case.According to Jason Torchinsky, a campaign finance lawyer working in one of the GOP's most prominent law firms, the decision showed that a majority of the justices did not agree with low campaign donation limits but might have been hesitant to take on this fight in today's political climate.