National Republican Senatorial Committee v. Federal Election Comm’n · ¶51

Fourth, the Colorado II decision also rested on an anti- circumvention rationale. The anti-circumvention theory goes like this: An individual donor who wants to engage in quid pro quo corruption—that is, donate to a candidate in exchange for official action by that candidate when in office—might give a candidate’s political party large contributions above the existing limits on contributions to candidates. And the party might then spend that money in coordination with the candidate in order to support that candidate’s campaign.

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