Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX)
Ted Cruz is already an awful senator, but not one to rest on his dubious laurels, he’s trying to make things worse. He’s suing the Federal Election Commission to overturn a federal anti-corruption law.
If he succeeds, that will “enable any lawmaker to make a high-dollar, high-interest loan to their campaign, and then use that loan as a vehicle to funnel donations directly into their pocket.”
The details are complicated (read them here), but Vox says “a decision in Cruz’s favor could effectively make it legal for wealthy donors to bribe lawmakers.”
And Vox thinks “Cruz has a very good chance of prevailing in a Supreme Court where Republicans control six of the Court’s nine seats,” because so far “the Roberts Court has shown little inclination to rein in the power of wealthy donors to shape elections — or to spend money in order to maximize their influence over lawmakers.”
“Perhaps,” the article’s author muses, “the Court will decide … that putting money directly into a Congress member’s pocket goes too far. But, given the Court’s record, I wouldn’t bet on it.” He adds, “Although current precedents nominally permit Congress to enact campaign finance laws to prevent ‘corruption and the appearance of corruption,’ the Court’s decision in Citizens United … defined the word ‘corruption’ so narrowly that it is basically meaningless.” Cruz’s lawsuit seeks to make a bad situation worse.
Generally speaking, Democrats favor controls on campaign cash, such as donation limits and disclosure requirements, while Republicans oppose them. Citizens United, dark money, and super-PACs are all results of a conservative drive to block efforts to limit the corrosive influence of money on politics, and especially the influence of corporate money. Their attitude toward using money to influence public policy is roughly identical to their attitude about guns, i.e. no restrictions, controls, or oversight whatsoever.
Cruz intentionally violated the law, so he could challenge it in court and get it struck down, Vox says. Maybe that will get it thrown out. But the court McConnell packed with conservative extremists could seize on it as an opportunity to attack what’s left of legislative efforts to rein in the corrupt influence of money on American politics.