PACS, Super-PACS and Dark Money: Analysis of US Campaign Contributions and Role of the Supreme Court

PACS, Super-PACS and Dark Money: In this episode, the hosts analyze the logic of US campaign donations - and the role of the Supreme Court.

Two months before the US midterm elections, it is clear: These will probably be the most expensive midterms of all time with more than nine billion dollars in campaign donations. In this episode, hosts Nicole Bastian and Christian Lammert discuss why election campaigns in the USA are so expensive - and are becoming more and more expensive.

“Politicians have often tried to reduce the influence of money through various laws,” says Christian Lammert, professor of North American political systems at the Free University of Berlin. “But money has always found new ways to gain influence in this election campaign.”

The US Supreme Court plays a central role in this. Only through the Supreme Court's decisions since 2010 have so-called SuperPACs - super-level political action committees - been formed with hundreds of millions of dollars. “The logic behind it is: Political communication costs money – and if you limit spending, you may also limit the right to free political speech,” says Lammert.

Also in Trump news: Trump's Venezuela deal, US-Russia policy, unrest in the Pentagon and the latest Supreme Court decisions on Trump's ballroom and his postal voting push.

Link tip on campaign finance

Moderated by Nicole Bastian & Christian Lammert

Produced by Maximilian Rex

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