Citation
Nicholas Stephanopoulos, Aligning Campaign Finance Law, 101 Va. L. Rev. 1425 (2015).
Abstract
In a series of recent decisions, the Supreme Court has rejected campaign finance interests such as anti-distortion and equality, while narrowing the anti-corruption interest to its quid pro quo core. This core cannot sustain the bulk of campaign finance regulation. As a result, contribution limits, expenditure limits, and public financing programs have been struck down. If any meaningful rules are to survive, a new interest capable of justifying them must be found.
This Article introduces just such an interest: the alignment of voters’ policy preferences with their government’s policy outputs. Alignment is a value of deep democratic significance — if it is achieved, then voters’ views are heeded by their elected representatives. The Article demonstrates that alignment can constitutionally justify campaign finance regulation, that it is consistent with existing doctrine, and that it can sustain a broad range of contribution limits, expenditure limits, and public financing programs that anti-corruption alone cannot support.