On January 6, the Louisiana Republican Party asked the U.S. Supreme Court to hear Republican Party of Louisiana v Federal Election Commission, 16-865. The party is arguing that the First Amendment protects the ability of a state party to receive larger contributions than the federal law now permits. The current law sets contribution limits on individual contributions to state political parties if the money will be used for any federal election activity whatsoever. Sometimes parties want to spend money on activities that affect both federal and state campaigns, such as get-out-the-vote drives.

The Louisiana Republican Party case is only about money that would be spent independently of any particular candidate. The party says that the purpose of the federal law that limits donations to political parties is to prevent individuals from making such contributions in order to curry favor with particular members of Congress, but that this rationale does not justify limits on independent spending. Here is the party’s cert petition. The U.S. District 3-judge court had ruled against the party in late 2016.