PUBLIC FUNDING AFTER DAVIS v. FEC: Is CAMPAIGN FINANCE REFORM THE STATES STILL LEGALLY VIABLE?

The article looks at the legality of political campaign finance in the U.S. after the Davis v. Federal Election Commission (FEC) case. It examines the legal challenges brought against the state laws which help political candidates finance campaigns and curtail campaign spending, the logic that courts have utilized to ignore these challenges, and the way in which the Davis case affects that logic. It also examines the U.S. Supreme Court's treatment of campaign finance limitations before the Davis case, discusses the various types of state campaign finance laws, and shows how federal district courts and courts of appeals employed the Supreme Court's pre-Davis decisions to state's election laws. It is concluded that the matching funds of state campaign finance laws are still constitutional.