Attorney Michael T. Morley was counsel of record for Appellant McCutcheon and was primarily responsible for preparing his principal brief. United States Solicitor General Donald Verrilli Jr. argued for the appellees: the Federal Election Commission and the Obama administration.
McCutcheon intended on donating to an additional twelve federal candidates, bringing his contribution total over the federal aggregate limit on federal candidates. McCutcheon filed suit against the Federal Election Commission (FEC), where he was joined in his lawsuit by the Republican National Committee.
McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission, 572 U.S. 185 (2014), is a landmark campaign finance decision of the United States Supreme Court. The decision held that Section 441 of the Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA), which imposed a limit on contributions an individual can make over a two-year period to national party...
Plaintiff Shaun McCutcheon is a businessman and electrical engineer from suburban Birmingham, Alabama, who is a campaign contributor and self described activist of the Republican Party.
Justices Breyer, Ginsburg, Sotomayor and Kagan dissented, arguing that the decision "creates a loophole that will allow a single individual to contribute millions of dollars to a political party or to a candidate's campaign.
Valeo, 424 U.S. 1 (1976), was a landmark decision of the US Supreme Court on campaign finance. A majority of justices held that, as provided by section 608 of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971, limits on election expenditures are unconstitutional.
THE IMPACT OF THE CITIZENS UNITED DECISION In Citizens United v. FEC, the Supreme Court asserted that corporations are people and removed reasonable campaign contribution limits, allowing a small group of wealthy donors and special interests to use dark money to influence elections.
Soft money is used to pay for a party organization's overhead expenses, as well as shared expenses that benefit both federal and non-federal elections, even if they indirectly benefit federal candidates.
William Frank Buckley Jr. (born William Francis Buckley; November 24, 1925 – February 27, 2008) was an American public intellectual, conservative author and political commentator. In 1955, he founded National Review, the magazine that stimulated the conservative movement in the mid-20th century United States.
Bipartisan Campaign Reform ActLong titleAn act to amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to provide bipartisan campaign reform.Acronyms (colloquial)BCRANicknamesMcCain–Feingold, Shays–MeehanEnacted bythe 107th United States CongressCitations8 more rows
The political action committee Citizens United was founded in 1988 by Floyd Brown, a longtime Washington political consultant. The group promotes free enterprise, socially conservative causes and candidates who advance their mission.
Citizens United planned to make the film available within 30 days of the 2008 primary elections, but feared that the film would be covered by the Act's ban on corporate-funded electioneering communications that are the functional equivalent of express advocacy, thus subjecting the corporation to civil and criminal ...
Citizens United v. FECCitizens United v. Federal Election CommissionCase opinionsMajorityKennedy, joined by Roberts, Scalia, Alito; Thomas (all but Part IV); Stevens, Ginsburg, Breyer, Sotomayor (Part IV)ConcurrenceRoberts, joined by AlitoConcurrenceScalia, joined by Alito; Thomas (in part)20 more rows
In the politics of the United States, dark money refers to political spending by nonprofit organizations—for example, 501(c)(4) (social welfare) 501(c)(5) (unions) and 501(c)(6) (trade association) groups—that are not required to disclose their donors.
A 527 organization or 527 group is a type of U.S. tax-exempt organization organized under Section 527 of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code (26 U.S.C. § 527). A 527 group is created primarily to influence the selection, nomination, election, appointment or defeat of candidates to federal, state or local public office.
Super PACs are independent expenditure-only political committees that may receive unlimited contributions from individuals, corporations, labor unions and other political action committees for the purpose of financing independent expenditures and other independent political activity.
Valeo - hyperpluralist theory. A 1976 case in which the Supreme Court struck down the portion of the Federal Election Campaign Act that set limits on the amount of money individuals could contribute to their own campaigns.
What did the Supreme Court rule in Buckley v. Valeo (1976)? struck down limits on spending by campaigns and citizens, but upheld the provision limiting the size of individual contributions to campaigns.
The court found that the BCRA §203 prohibition of all independent expenditures by corporations and unions violated the First Amendment's protection of free speech.
Federal Election Commission that held that corporations could be banned from making electioneering communications. The Court upheld the reporting and disclaimer requirements for independent expenditures and electioneering communications. The Court's ruling did not affect the ban on corporate contributions.
Department of Revenue as taxes. Buddy McCutcheon's practice was Cosmetic Surgery of Asheville , where his wife also worked.
Devereux also mentioned the embezzlement allegations and reports that Brenda McCutcheon planned to shred documents, arguing that anything relevant to a Department of Revenue investigation would be available in state and bank records, too.
Broughton also drew attention to the fact that Brenda McCutcheon had taken a concealed carry class with her husband in which she worked specifically with the silver revolver found in the ivy.
Legal documents showed the state was investigating the McCutcheons at the time of Buddy McCutcheon's death for possibly keeping employees' payroll withholdings — instead of paying them to the N.C. Department of Revenue as taxes — through Cosmetic Surgery of Asheville.
He was 64. They had been married 32 years. “Assistant District Attorneys Amy Broughton and Meghan Lock built an ironclad case that brought justice for Frank McCutcheon and those who loved him," District Attorney Todd Williams said in a release.
After the death of her husband, Brenda McCutcheon sold their house for $420,000, but Devereux said she had the mortgage to pay off and debts of her own. She also received $224,000 from his IRA account, but testified that, in the last three and a half years, she's withdrawn an average of about $35,000 a year.
Buddy McCutcheon was found dead in the first-floor TV room where, Brenda McCutcheon testified, he slept because he liked to have the television on at night and she did not.
Brenda McCutcheon's signature was on everything in that case, Lock said. In the days between the visit from revenue agents and Buddy McCutcheon's death, prosecutors said his wife went through boxes of files and visited their tax preparer, trying to take care of her mistakes. “The walls were closing in on her, and that’s motive," said Lock.
Devereux also addressed theories that Brenda McCutcheon "wasn’t grieving right" because she quickly got to work to close the medical practice and sell the house after her husband's death.
She argued Brenda McCutcheon may have worn gloves to shoot her husband and may have cleaned up before calling authorities.