Sen. Ted Cruz scores victory with federal court ruling regarding campaign finance

Sen. Ted Cruz had pushed back against a part of election law that barred campaigns from paying off greater than $250,000 in personal loans with post-election donations.
Sen. Ted Cruz on May 12, 2021

A federal court on Thursday struck down rules restricting the amount of funds that political candidates may raise post-election to pay off loans. 

Sen. Ted Cruz had pushed back against a portion of election law that barred campaigns from paying off greater than $250,000 in personal loans with post-election donations, according to The Hill, which noted that the Texas Republican placed $260,000 of his own funds into his 2018 campaign and then lodged suit against the Federal Election Commission in 2019 as he tried to pay off his debt.

A three-judge panel determined that the repayment ceiling imposed via the 2002 Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act breached the lawmaker's free speech rights, the outlet reported.

"Because the government has failed to demonstrate that the loan-repayment limit serves an interest in preventing quid pro quo corruption, or that the limit is sufficiently tailored to serve this purpose, the loan repayment limit runs afoul of the First Amendment," D.C. Court of Appeals judge Neomi Rao wrote.

The FEC could appeal the case to the nation's high court, The Hill noted.