Supreme Court Review
Article Title
The Party’s Over: McCutcheon, Shadow Parties, and the Future of the Party System
Abstract
Shaun McCutcheon, the Alabama lawyer who successfully challenged a key provision of the Federal Elections Campaign Act (FECA), seems an unlikely ally of supporters of campaign-finance reform. They share neither his politics nor his lack of irony. McCutcheon, after all, supports Republican candidates by writing them checks in the amount of $1,776. Moreover, supporters of campaign-finance reform hardly want to hasten the Supreme Court’s dismantling of the FECA. Yet McCutcheon’s suit was heralded by some as a remedy for what ails our politics. To understand this strange turn of events, one must view McCutcheon v Federal Election Commission against the deep shifts taking place in American politics. These are strange times for the two dominant political parties.
Recommended Citation
Fishkin, Joseph and Gerken, Heather K.
(2015)
"The Party’s Over: McCutcheon, Shadow Parties, and the Future of the Party System,"
Supreme Court Review: Vol. 2014, Article 4.
Available at:
https://chicagounbound.uchicago.edu/supremecourtrev/vol2014/iss1/4