Fear-Driven Jurisprudence: McCutcheon and Unlimited Campaign Contributions as Mechanisms for Entrenching White Supremacy

Abstract

The United States Supreme Court, in McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission, eliminated the authority of the FEC to limit the aggregate donations made by individuals. Now, a donor’s total giving was limited only by a) the limit on the amount they could give to a single candidate, and b) the number of candidates they chose to give to. This paper attempts to analyze patterns of donor giving to determine if the McCutcheon decision has had a crowding-out effect on minority dollars. It then places this decision in a critical context, suggesting that the decision is the new, more respectable, less overt version of Jim Crow - a law designed to ensure that white supremacy, in political and economic terms, remains the law of the land, even as Americans of European descent become a numerical minority.

Keywords: Supreme Court, campaign finance, McCutcheon v. FEC, Citizens United, white supremacy