What did the federal district court decide before McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission reached the Supreme Court?

Before the case reached the Supreme Court, the federal district court rejected the challenge brought by Shaun McCutcheon and the Republican National Committee against the Federal Election Commission (FEC).1

The district court held that the aggregate limits on campaign contributions remained necessary to prevent the circumvention of base limits on contributions to individual candidates. The court reasoned that without these aggregate caps, an individual could theoretically evade base limits through a multi-step process involving joint fund-raising committees and transfers between party committees.1

The court acknowledged that while it might seem unlikely for various entities to willingly serve as conduits for a single contributor, it was not difficult to imagine a scenario where parties implicitly agreed to such a system. The court concluded that there was no reason to believe the quid pro quo of an exchange would depend on the number of steps involved in the transaction. Following this ruling, McCutcheon appealed the decision directly to the Supreme Court.1