WASHINGTON – A high-stakes challenge to campaign finance restrictions being heard by the Supreme Court on Tuesday has the potential to fizzle because of Vice President JD Vance’s reluctance to reveal whether he will run for office in 2028.
That, at least, is what one of the lawyers will tell the justices during the oral argument, which concerns limits on how much party committees can spend in coordination with candidates.
The Supreme Court’s conservative majority has long been skeptical of campaign finance restrictions on free speech grounds, and Republicans have often brought challenges against them.
Vance, who was among those challenging the spending limits in the case before the court this week, has been equivocal about his plans in various public remarks, moast recently in an interview with NBC News last week.
Roman Martinez, whom the court appointed to defend the restrictions when the Trump administration announced it would not do so, says the case is moot, meaning it should be dismissed and the current restrictions should remain in place.
One of Martinez’s key arguments, outlined in court papers, is that Vance, who originally challenged the regulations when he was a Senate candidate, no longer has a stake in the case because he is not currently a candidate, nor has he announced any intention to be one in the future.
“Vice President’s Vance’s claim is now moot as he has repeatedly stated that he has no concrete plan in place to run for any particular office in 2028,” Martinez said in an email.
Because the government switched sides and is now supporting the challengers, “no one had any incentive” to point out the problems he has raised, Martinez added.
Martinez also argues that the National Republican Senatorial Committee, the National Republican Congressional Committee and former Rep. Steve Chabot, R-Ohio, all involved in the legal challenge, have no grounds to maintain the lawsuit, either.
Vance is walking a delicate line as a presumptive heir to President Donald Trump, who faces a constitutional bar to seeking a third term, while also serving as his vice president.
Asked in the recent NBC News interview under what scenario he would not run for president in 2028, Vance refused to take a firm position.
Vance has said before that “the politics will sort themselves out” about a future run if the Trump administration d