National Republican Senatorial Committee v. Federal Election Comm’n · ¶116

At the heart of the 1974 reforms were so-called “base limits”—caps on the maximum amount any donor can give to a candidate’s campaign. The idea behind those limits is clear-cut. In a world where campaigning for office is expensive, candidates need financial contributions—and the bigger, the better. To get large contributions, they may be willing to return public-policy concessions—a decision or a vote on some matter of governance. And even when that does not occur, the public can see that it might—that the incentives and opportunities are there for buying and selling policy outcomes. So Congress set strict base limits to protect both “the integrity of ” and public “confidence in” our “system of representative Government.” Id., at 26–27. In 1974, the limit was $1,000 per election. See id., at 26. Today, that limit is $3,500—or $7,000 if you count the primary and general elections…

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