How the 2016 Election Is Testing the Legal Standard on Corruption
For decades, U.S. law viewed corruption as not simply about a suitcase of cash furtively exchanged for a vote. It could also be about politicians getting too cozy with their donors: dinner parties, private meetings and taking advice that led to official actions. Lawmakers and judges targeted the appearance of corruption with laws meant to restrict money in politics. The idea was that the appearance, even without clear quid pro quo, could be corrosive, causing people to lose faith in democracy.
The “public awareness of the opportunities for abuse” could be as great a danger as pay-to-play, the Supreme Court stated in Buckley v. Valeo in 1976. Avoiding the “appearance of corruption” became a legal justification for limits on campaign donations, and the Supreme Court ruled again in 2003 in McConnell v. FEC that it was about the “broader threat from politicians too compliant with the wishes of large contributors” and donors getting unfair “access to high-level government officials.”
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