The Supreme Court has been very busy today, first ruling that the 2nd Amendment guarantees and individual right to bear arms … then ruling that money is speech.
According to this story by the AP, creating different rules for candidates based upon how much their opponent spends violates the 1st Amendment. The law had said that when a candidate spends more than $350,000 of his own money, an opponent may qualify to accept individual contributions up to $6,900, triple the normally allowed amount.
My question is if money is speech, and millionaires can spend as much of their own money as they want … then why am I limited in how much I can contribute.
This story, of course, has more than just a local angle … the lawsuit was brought forth by Jack Davis, Democratic candidate in the 26th district.
Jon Powers, Davis’ main challenger on the Democratic side, released the following statement:
“The voters of the 26th District are not going to let a millionaire, who owns up to $35 million in Big Oil stocks, to buy this election when gas prices are more than $4.00 a gallon. Regardless of what the Supreme Court decided, there is a clear choice in the Democratic Primary in New York’s 26th District. Voters can either vote for Jon Powers, who has 75% of his donors giving $50 or less, or Jack Davis who went to the Supreme Court in order to make it easier for millionaires to get elected.”
By the way, the photo at the top was taken by yours truly … I love the Supreme Court building …