How did the district court think donors could use joint fundraising committees to get around base limits?

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In McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission, the district court rejected the argument that aggregate limits were unnecessary, reasoning that donors could potentially circumvent base limits on contributions to individual candidates through a multi-step process involving joint fundraising committees.1

The court outlined a hypothetical scenario where a donor could bypass these restrictions by:

Making a single large contribution to a joint fundraising committee.1
Having that committee distribute the funds among several party committees, adhering to individual base limits.1
Having those party committees transfer the funds to a single party committee, as there are no limits on transfers between committees of the same party.1
Having that final committee use the total sum to cover the expenditures of a single candidate.1

While the court acknowledged that it might seem unlikely for multiple entities to act as conduits, it maintained that parties could implicitly agree to such a system, noting that the potential for a quid pro quo exchange does not depend on the number of steps in the transaction.1