Hasan: Ted Cruz Just Made It Easier for the Congress to Get Bribed Through the Right-Wing Supreme Court

‘But instead of sponsoring a bill, he took a short cut through the right-wing Supreme Court’

EXCERPT:

HASAN: "We’ve been talking a lot about the Supreme Court lately, but here is one case that made have flown under your radar. On Monday, the court issued an opinion in the case Federal Election Commission vs. Ted Cruz for Senate — yes, that Ted Cruz. Back in 2018, Ted Cruz ran was at the time the most expensive Senate race in U.S. history against Democratic challenger Beto O'Rourke. One day before that election, Cruz personally loaned his campaign $260,000. What an oddly specific number to lend, especially one day before an election. Well, back in 2002, Congress passed a bipartisan law which prohibited campaigns from repaying more than $250,000 of personal loans using funds raised after an election. The law sought to limit the influence special interest groups could have on candidates after they had already won. But this would not apply to Cruz's personal loan. Campaigns are free to repay as much as they want from donations received before the election, as long as they do so within a 20-day window. Following Cruz's victory in 2018, he let that 20-day deadline lapse, intentionally laying the groundwork for this legal challenge. Which brings us to Monday when the conservative court sided with Ted Cruz, knocking down the $250,000 cap. The ruling came as no surprise to anyone who follows this court. In recent years, they’ve stripped away major campaign finance provisions — most notably, 2010 Citizens United decision. And just like in that case, there are now fears that Monday’s decision could have dire consequences, like opening the floodgates to bribery by allowing donors to funnel money directly into candidates' personal bank accounts.”

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