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9 N.Y.U. J.L. & Liberty 48 (2015)
McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission: An Unlikely Blockbuster

handle is hein.journals/nyujlawlb9 and id is 54 raw text is: ~NEW YORK UNIVERSITY JOURNAL OF LAW & LIBERTY MCCUTCHEON v. FEDERAL ELECTION COMMISSION: AN UNLIKELY BLOCKBUSTER Bradley A. Smith* Any case that gets to the Supreme Court is important in its own way, but McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission could easily have been one of the least significant cases of the October 2013 term. That it became an important case is all to the benefit of the Ameri- can people and American democracy, and, oddly enough, mainly the result of the radical First Amendment theories and poor strate- gic calculations of the dissent. Shaun McCutcheon, an engineer and successful small busi- ness owner from Alabama, wished to contribute $1776- a number obviously chosen for both its substantive impact and its symbol- ism -to a number of candidates running for Congress whom, he perceived, shared his values and approach to public governance. Federal law limits the size and source of contributions to candidates for federal office. McCutcheon's desired contributions fell well within the legal limit for giving by an individual to any one candi- * Visiting Judge John T. Copenhaver, Jr. Chair of Law, West Virginia University; Josiah H. Blackmore/Shirley M. Nault Professor of Law, Capital University. 48 Imaged with Permission of N.Y.U. Journal of Law & Liberty

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