- Collection:
- Scholarly Works
- Title:
- The Price of Corruption
- Creator:
- Rodrigues, Usha
- Date of Original:
- 2015-07-01
- Subject:
- University of Georgia. School of Law
Law--Study and teaching
University of Georgia--Faculty - Location:
- United States, Georgia, Clarke County, Athens, 33.96095, -83.37794
- Medium:
- articles
- Type:
- Text
- Format:
- application/pdf
- Description:
- Originally uploaded at SSRN (http://ssrn.com/abstract=2486720).
The Supreme Court recently held that campaign contributions under $5200 do not create a “cognizable risk of corruption.” It was wrong. This Essay describes a nexus of timely contributions and special-interest legislation. In the most noteworthy case, a CEO made a first-time $1000 donation to a member of Congress. The next day that representative introduced a securities bill tailored to the interests of the CEO’s firm. Armed with this real-world account of how small-dollar campaign contributions coincided with favorable legislative action, the Essay reads McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission with a critical eye. In McCutcheon the Supreme Court assumed that small-dollar donations do not pose a risk of corruption, and accordingly struck down aggregate contribution limits on the theory that the base limit of $5200 provides enough of a bulwark against corruption. This Essay suggests otherwise. The fact that the price of corruption is lower than commonly understood has fundamental repercussions for campaign finance law.
McCutcheon v. FEC -- election law -- Buckley v. Valeo -- campaign contributions -- campaign finance -- Federal Election Campaign Act -- JOBS Act -- corruption -- Securities and Exchange Act of 1934 -- SecondMarket -- Wawa -- shareholder registration thresholds -- Section 12(g) -- Election Law -- Law and Politics - External Identifiers:
- Metadata URL:
- https://digitalcommons.law.uga.edu/fac_artchop/1033
- Holding Institution:
- Alexander Campbell King Law Library
- Rights:
-
