Issue One warns of super PAC corruption risk ahead of oral arguments in Maine ballot measure lawsuit

Issue One issued the following statement ahead of tomorrow’s oral arguments in a lawsuit — known as Dinner Table Action, et al. v. Schneider, et al. — about a ballot measure passed by 75% of Maine voters in November 2024 that limits contributions to super PACs to $5,000 per year:

“For our government to be of the people, by the people, and for the people, it cannot be for sale to the highest bidder,” said Issue One Senior Research Director Michael Beckel. “In the 15 years since the Citizens United and SpeechNow court decisions, evidence has been mounting that the courts erred in their assumptions about the corrupting influence of big-money contributions to super PACs.”

He continued: “Limits on political contributions are permissible if they address actual or apparent corruption, and through this ballot measure, voters across the political spectrum sounded the alarm about the dangers of corruption they perceive between candidates and big-money political groups, especially when the firewall of independence that is supposed to exist between them is just a facade.”

Background:

Super PACs — which are currently allowed to accept contributions of unlimited amounts and must not coordinate their spending with political candidates — have proliferated at the federal, state, and local levels since the Citizens United and SpeechNow court rulings in 2010 ushered in a new era of big-money politics.

However, last year, Maine voters overwhelmingly supported a ballot measure — backed by fair elections organization EqualCitizens and Harvard law professor Larry Lessig — to limit contributions to super PACs to $5,000 per year.

Two super PACs are now challenging that ballot measure in federal court, with supporters of the ballot measure arguing that “the fact that super PACs make independent expenditures does not ensure that they receive independent contributions free from quid pro quo corruption (or its appearance).”

Their legal briefs cite two high-profile cases in which such allegations of corruption have arisen, one involving a powerful Republican state legislator (Larry Householder, the former Speaker of the House in Ohio) and one involving a powerful Democratic senator (Bob Menendez, the former chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee). Both Householder and Menedez are currently serving multiple years in prison after being convicted on corruption charges.

Read more on Issue One’s Substack: “When are big-money contributions to super PACs corrupting?”