W&L Law Professor Chris Seaman on the Supreme Court's Campaign Finance Case (Audio)
The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments Tuesday (Oct. 8, 2013) in McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission. The issue in the case are the aggregate contributions limits that restrict how much money an individual can donate to a candidate and committees during a two-year election cycle.
In this audio, Christopher Seaman, assistant professor of law at Washington and Lee University, provides background and context to the case.
Seaman predicts that, ultimately, the Court will strike down the aggregate contribution limit.
“There are three pretty clear votes to overturn the aggregate contribution limit,” he said. “The big question is what Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Alito will find. Based on their votes in the case, which was a 5-4 split, I will go out on a limb and predict they will strike down the aggregate contribution limit.”
Seaman joined the Washington and Lee law faculty in 2012. His research and teaching interests include intellectual property (IP) law and civil procedure, with a particular focus on IP litigation and remedies for the violation of IP rights. He received his B.A. in 2000 from Swarthmore College and his J.D. in 2004 from the University of Pennsylvania Law School, where he was an Executive Editor of the University of Pennsylvania Law Review and received the Edwin R. Keedy Law Review Award.
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