The US Supreme Court has struck down overall contribution limits for individual political donors.

The court ruled 5-4 that individuals could give to candidates, parties and political groups without observing an overall cap of $123,200 (£74,000).

The ruling leaves in place the limit on how much a donor can give to a single candidate - currently $2,600 (£1,560).

The decision is the latest in a series which have loosened restrictions on US campaign finance.

Contribution limits were established by Congress in the 1970s in an attempt to restore the public's faith in government after President Richard Nixon's resignation in the Watergate scandal.

"A country that expands the rights of the powerful to dominate the political process but does not protect fundamental rights for all citizens doesn't sound much like a functioning democracy to me" - Ari Berman in the Nation

"The Court has reversed nearly 40 years of its own precedents, laid out a welcome mat for corruption, and turned its back on the lessons learned from the Watergate scandal" - Miles Rapoport of Common Cause

"This latest outburst of judicial activism in the struggle to render campaign finance laws completely toothless is merely accelerating a historical process that is coming to seem almost inevitable" - Paul Campos in Salon

"This is a great day for the First Amendment, and a great day for political speech" - Chris Chocola, of Club for Growth

Club for Growth is a right-wing political group established in 1999 by Stephen Moore that endorses and raises money for candidates.

R.J. Johnson, who served as a political strategist for Walker's campaign, is a key adviser to the Club for Growth.[2] Johnson has refused to disclose where the Club for Growth gets its funding.[3] The Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune in a February 26, 2011 editorial described the Club for Growth as an "ultra-rich special interest itself."[4] As of September 13th, 2012, OpenSecrets estimates that Club for Growth has spent $13 million influencing federal elections

The group supports far-right Republican candidates, spending money to not only oppose Democrats, but also moderate Republicans they term "RINOs" (an acronym for Republican In Name Only).

Despite being allowed to raise unlimited funds, Club for Growth's 501(c)(4) wing is not required to disclose its donors. Club for Growth's PAC, Club for Growth Action, is supported by ultra-rich right-wing donors like Peter Thiel (their largest donor), leverage-buyout specialist John Childs and New Jersey investor Virginia James, who have both given the Club $1 million donations

Billionaire German-American venture capitalist, he wrote “I no longer believe that freedom and democracy are compatible.”
He was inspired by Ayn Rand (of course) and supports research into transhumanism. He is co-author of the book The Diversity Myth: 'Multiculturalism' and the Politics of Intolerance at Stanford. and is listed as a member of the Steering Committee of The Bilderberg Group.

Stephen Moore is currently an editor and contributor to the National Review, and an economics correspondent for Human Events. He is also President of the Free Enterprise Fund
Before founding the Club for Growth, Moore was the director of fiscal policy studies at the Cato Institute, and has stayed on as a senior fellow.
Moore has also served at the Heritage Foundation and as committee staff to former Rep. Dick Armey, now co-chair of FreedomWorks.
In December of 2004 then-CFG President Steve Moore left his position after accusations that he, and/or members of his new organization, the Free Enterprise Fund, had taken CFG's donor and mailing lists. Though there were threats of legal action, no more came of the accusations.