Kendall Coffey: Campaign Contributions are Free Speech

Kendall Coffey appeared on the Steve Malzberg show on October 10th for the regular "Spinning the Law" segment.  The highlights of the interview includes discussion about the Supreme Court weighing in on whether contribution limits for individuals giving to political campaigns are constitutional.  The general conservative members of the court say that contribution limitations are a violation of free speech.  Kendall Coffey agrees.

Flickr CC via Mary Mactavish

“I think conservatives as well as liberals would acknowledge that this is free speech.  Your ability to advocate your views in the political world is about as fundamental a thing as our founding fathers were focused on. So this is the heart of what first amendment free speech is about. So whether you are getting your message out by standing on a street corner holding a sign or doing it by funding candidates in causes you believe in it’s pretty clearly free speech. So the question is what are the justifications for limiting free speech, and as you know you have a really strong one for limiting something that is constitutionally protected. So, the issue in a case like is if you maintain a cap over a two-year cycle and that is all you can personally contribute, what is the justification for that? Is there a record that says keeping that cap in place will reduce corruption in politics? They just don’t have the evidence to point out that it will have any such impact. 

And consider a few other things. In the last election cycle there were a lot of allegations about super billionaires putting a lot of their own money into the election, but both sides had plenty of money.  It is very difficult to say that a few people have hijacked the system when there are so many different ways for candidates to raise money.  I think the allegation that caps are protecting us from corruption or protecting the system from the few controlling everything and disenfranchising those who are not wealthy are not very compelling at this point.”

During the interview, Kendall Coffey, Miami attorney, also discussed cases of child abuse, assisted suicide and Aaron Hernandez.