Ted Cruz files a lawsuit against the FEC…

Ted Cruz has decided to file a big lawsuit against the FEC, challenging their rules on what a campaign can pay back to a candidate.

Cruz believes the rules violate the first amendment.

Here’s more:

THE HILL – Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) sued the Federal Election Commission (FEC) Monday over rules that cap how much money he can reimburse himself for his 2018 reelection race against former Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-Texas).

Cruz is challenging a section of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act that says campaigns cannot use more than $250,000 in funds raised after an election to repay a candidate for personal loans to their campaign.

In the lawsuit, first reported on by BuzzFeed News, the Texas lawmaker says he put $260,000 of his own money into his successful reelection campaign, above the $250,000 limit.

Cruz argues that the restrictions violate the First Amendment by undercutting the rights of candidates and donors to express themselves by financing political speech.

“The First Amendment commands that ‘Congress shall make no law . . . abridging the freedom of speech.’ This bedrock liberty was designed to ensure the full and free political debate that is the hallmark of our democratic form of government,” the lawsuit says. “At its core, it protects the rights of citizens to engage in political speech.”

Cruz cites Supreme Court decisions striking down laws that limit the amount of money flowing into the political arena, including Citizens United v. FEC and Davis v. FEC, to argue precedent for his case.

I sounds like Cruz has a solid point here.

Money is absolutely speech even though Democrats don’t like to admit it. And by capping how much someone can get paid back from their own campaign after a personal loan, a candidate’s free speech is being limited.

It’ll be interesting to see how the courts handle this. I doubt Cruz would be filing the lawsuit if he didn’t think he could win.


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