When was soft money banned

The Supreme Court on Monday upheld the so-called soft money ban on state and local parties, prompting opponents of the restriction to turn their pleas for repeal to Congress. The ban stems from the McCain-Feingold law, which prohibited unlimited and unregulated large contributions to party committees known as soft money.

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Your Practice. Popular Courses. What Is Soft Money? Key Takeaways Soft money is a largely unregulated general donation mechanism for political campaigns. Soft money cannot be used to support federal candidate campaigns. It can be distributed through national party committees to bolster general party support, and this creates a great deal of gray area for its use.

Soft money was officially banned in but has since made a comeback. In the end, a law intended to reign in election spending backfired by triggering an era of court-ordered deregulation that led to massive new spending. Throughout the modern era, it has become abundantly apparent that changes in campaign finance law, as well as court decisions, determined the flow of money within the political system.

Though it may be desirable on the part of some to stem the flow of money in politics, history has shown it is not going to happen. In New Jersey, it would be best to remember that adage and enact laws that will redirect the flow of contributions back to more accountable, transparent political parties and the candidates themselves.

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