WASHINGTON, May 16 —The US Supreme Court today further undermined campaign finance restrictions and handed a victory to Senator Ted Cruz, striking down as a free speech violation part of a bipartisan 2002 law challenged by the Texas Republican that federal officials had called an anti-corruption provision.

The justices, in a 6-3 ruling, found that a US$250,000 (RM1.1 million) cap on the amount of money political candidates can be reimbursed after an election for personal loans to their own campaigns ran afoul of the US Constitution’s First Amendment guarantee of freedom of speech by unjustifiably burdening political expression.

Cruz had sued the Federal Election Commission (FEC), the agency that enforces election laws. — Reuters