The Independent View: Judge Rejects NY Limit on Donations to Super PACs

A federal judge on Thursday struck down New York State’s limit on contributions to independent groups that spend money supporting political candidates, a move that could unleash large spending by so-called super PACs in state races.

Currently, New York imposes a $150,000 limit on an individual’s annual political contributions. The judge, Paul A. Crotty of Federal District Court in Manhattan, ruled that such a limit was a violation of the First Amendment when it was applied to independent groups.

In a five-page opinion, Judge Crotty lamented the influence of outsize donations in today’s political system. He wrote that the voices of regular citizens “are too often drowned out by the few who have great resources,” and disagreed with some of the Supreme Court’s analysis in the recent case, McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission.

But despite his concerns, Judge Crotty wrote that he had no choice but to follow the Supreme Court’s lead in that case and in the landmark Citizens United campaign finance case, as well as the guidance of the Second Circuit.

“Our Supreme Court,” he wrote, “has made clear that only certain contribution limits comport with the First Amendment.”

The case in New York was brought last fall by New York Progress and Protection PAC, a conservative group that was supporting the Republican candidate for mayor of New York City, Joseph J. Lhota, who lost to Bill de Blasio.

The group said at the time that the same political donor who was at the center of the recent Supreme Court case, Shaun McCutcheon, an Alabama businessman, had pledged to contribute well over the $150,000 that was permitted by state law.

Matt Mittenthal, a spokesman for the New York State attorney general, Eric T. Schneiderman, expressed disappointment with the ruling on Thursday. He said the state had not decided whether to appeal. Similar limits have also been struck down in other states after the Citizens United decision.

The decision in New York raised the possibility that independent groups, not affiliated with specific candidates, could begin to play an even larger role in state political races, like the re-election bid of Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, a Democrat who will be on the ballot in November, and in the battle for control of the State Senate.

“I think the dam of campaign finance regulation is breaking,” said Jerry H. Goldfeder, a prominent New York election lawyer. “This decision, like McCutcheon, is going to invite even further challenges to contribution limits.”

In an interview on Thursday, Craig Engle, the treasurer of New York Progress and Protection PAC, declined to discuss the group’s plans but said the end of the contribution limit would make it easier for independent groups to get their message out in New York, given its expensive media market.

“What this does,” he said, “is put governor candidates in New York on an equal footing with governor candidates across the United States — that the money that needs to be raised can be raised to support or defend their opinions or positions.”