Al Jazeera America - Advocates employing piecemeal strategies in the face of unprecedented spending on electionsCampaign finance reformers have had much to bemoan over the last few years: the explosion of outside money flooding political campaigns after the 2010 Citizens United vs. Federal Election Commission decision, the newly prominent role of political nonprofits and loosely independent political committees shaping elections while finding ways to cloak their donors, not to mention the lack of movement in Congress to address the seismic changes in the campaign finance landscape.Their prognosis for 2014: It could get much worse.Far from overturning Citizens United, as reformers once hoped, the Supreme Court is expected to hand down an equally consequential decision any day now that could further erode campaign finance restrictions for millionaire donors. In McCutcheon vs. Federal Election Commission, a wealthy Alabama businessman is contending that the current limit the law places on the total amount of money an individual can directly contribute to candidates, parties and traditional political action committees violates his freedom of speech. If the court rules in favor of Shaun McCutcheon and the Republican National Committee, which has joined him in the case, the aggregate limit for contributions could go from $123,000 in one election cycle to upwards of $3.6 million.See on america.aljazeera.com
