The Supreme Court on Thursday added five cases to its docket for its upcoming term, including a challenge from Sen. Ted Cruz to a federal campaign finance rule.
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In Federal Election Commission v. Ted Cruz For Senate, the court will consider the Texas Republican’s challenge to a provision of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 that places a $250,000 cap on how much a campaign committee can reimburse a candidate’s personal loan with funds raised after election day.
According to court filings in the case, during Cruz’s 2018 senate campaign against Democratic rival Beto O’Rourke, Cruz lent his own campaign $260,000. His reelection bid ended with $337,748 in “net debts outstanding” after the election, including the money Cruz loaned. After reimbursing its other creditors, the campaign reimbursed Cruz $250,000, leaving the additional $10,000 unpaid. The filings said Cruz “does not dispute that the unpaid $10,000 debt ‘is plainly a cognizable injury’” but claims the provision itself is a violation of the First Amendment.
Cruz’s court filing claims the loan repayment limit “burdens the core First Amendment rights of candidates, committees, and contributors” and should be subject to scrutiny.
A lower court sided with Cruz, but the FEC appealed that decision to the Supreme Court. In court filings, the FEC argued that the cap guards “against quid pro quo corruption or its appearance” and that Cruz’s “sole and exclusive motivation” for making the loan “was to establish the factual basis for this challenge.”
In its order, the court said it would consider the jurisdiction for the case when it hears the merits.
In a statement to the Washington Examiner, a spokesman for Cruz said, “Today’s decision by the Supreme Court to hear Sen. Cruz’s challenge to this unconstitutional restriction on free speech is great news.”
“Existing FEC rules benefit incumbent politicians and the super wealthy by making it harder for challengers to run for office,” the spokesman said. “We’re confident the Supreme Court will again rule in favor of the First Amendment and free speech.”
The court will also consider a procedural challenge in a case involving art stolen by the Nazis during World War II, a case concerning sentencing reductions under a criminal justice reform law, a First Amendment case involving a Christian group’s effort to fly its flag at city hall, and a case involving a North Dakota law firm’s tax dispute.
A number of controversial cases involving legislation such as a New Jersey gun restriction and state bans on abortion based on a prenatal Down syndrome diagnosis have yet to be taken up.
The court has already said it would consider several high-profile cases, including the case of a Texas prisoner who wants his pastor by his side for his execution and a Mississippi law prohibiting abortion after the first 15 weeks of pregnancy, a case some say could lead the court to reverse or chip away at Roe v. Wade.
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The court said in a Wednesday press release that it would provide a live audio feed of all oral arguments scheduled for its fall term. The term, which begins next week, will mark the first in-person oral arguments since the court began virtual hearings due to the COVID-19 pandemic last year.
