National Republican Senatorial Committee v. Federal Election Comm’n · ¶97

The dissent focuses, in particular, on the operations of joint fundraising committees—the apparent concern being that a donor could write a large check to a joint committee that would then be funneled to the candidate. See post, at 7–12, 15–18 (opinion of KAGAN, J.). But McCutcheon rejected a similar circumvention argument, and its reasoning applies here as well. In McCutcheon, the Court explained that “a joint fundraising committee is simply a mechanism for individual committees to raise funds collectively, not to circumvent base limits or earmarking rules.” 572 U. S., at 215. Any agreement between the donor and the committee to direct funds to a particular candidate “would trigger the earmarking provision.” Ibid. So “this circumvention scenario could not succeed without assuming” that the joint committee “would engage in a transparent violation of the earmarking rules” and that it…

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