Cite as: 596 U. S. ____ (2022)
5
KAGAN, J., dissenting
knows which candidate won (and so is in a position to return the favor by delivering government benefits). Consistent with our caselaw, that minor restriction on a candidate’s use of other people’s money does not severely burden
his (or anyone else’s) expression.
The majority’s argument to the contrary focuses not on
the restriction Section 304 actually imposes, but on the indirect effects the provision might have. The majority does
not dispute that Section 304 places no limits on the amount
a candidate can spend for expression. See ante, at 11. Nor
does (or could) the majority even claim that the provision
caps what a candidate can lend his campaign. Instead, the
majority argues that the law “may deter” a candidate from
making large loans because it curtails a potential source of
repayment—i.e., post-election donations. Ante, at 12. In
that way, the majority insists, the law—though concededly
regulating only the use of contributions—functions to “restrict[ ] a candidate’s speech.” Ante, at 11; see ante, at 13.
But every contribution regulation has some kind of indirect effect on electoral speech, and we have still understood
them to impose only minimal burdens. Consider again a
standard contribution ceiling, like the federal $2,900 cap.
That limit, as we have acknowledged, makes raising money
harder. See Randall, 548 U. S., at 247; Buckley, 424 U. S.,
at 20–21. And so it predictably gives a campaign less
money to spend. (In fact, a lot less: Just think of a world in
which a candidate could raise an unlimited sum from every
supporter.) With the contribution cap in effect, the campaign cannot pay for (nearly) as many advertisements,
mailings, signs, and so forth. And likewise, to return to the
fact pattern here, the campaign has less money available
than it otherwise would to repay a candidate’s (or any
other) loans. By the majority’s logic, that downstream effect would mean the contribution cap imposes a significant
First Amendment burden. But as noted above, we have always held to the contrary, save for the rare case in which
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