--- title: Federal Judge Strikes Down New York's Super PAC Limits description: A federal judge in New York struck down the state’s limits on donations to independent political action committees. canonical: https://time.com/76509/new-york-super-pac-judge/ author: Noah Rayman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-04-24T20:01:51.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T07:29:40.878Z article:section: Politics og:title: Federal Judge Strikes Down New York's Super PAC Limits og:description: A federal judge in New York struck down the state’s limits on donations to independent political action committees. og:url: https://time.com/76509/new-york-super-pac-judge/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Federal Judge Strikes Down New York's Super PAC Limits twitter:description: A federal judge in New York struck down the state’s limits on donations to independent political action committees. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Federal Judge Strikes Down New York's Super PAC Limits  by [Noah Rayman](https://time.com/author/noah-rayman/)  ## Noah Rayman Apr 24, 2014 8:01 PM UTC  by [Noah Rayman](https://time.com/author/noah-rayman/)  ## Noah Rayman Apr 24, 2014 8:01 PM UTC A federal judge in New York [struck down the state’s limits](http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/04/24/us-usa-newyork-campaignfinancing-idUSBREA3N1UZ20140424?feedType=RSS&feedName=domesticNews) on donations to independent political action committees, or super PACs, citing prior Supreme Court decisions with which he himself disagreed. District Judge Paul Crotty ruled that New York’s restrictions could not overcome First Amendment scrutiny given recent Supreme Court decisions, Reuters reports, including a [ruling on campaign finance earlier this month](http://time.com/47576/supreme-court-campaign-contributions/) and the 2010 ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. “We know what the Supreme Court has held, whether we like it or not, and I’m bound to follow it,” he said during a hearing in Manhattan federal court, according to Reuters. The state had limited how much individuals could give super PACS, which are supposed to operate independently from a candidate’s campaign. A federal appeals court blocked the state from enforcing the limits in October, pending a final decision, and Crotty’s ruling will now allow independent super PACs in the state to raise unlimited funds. \[[Reuters](http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/04/24/us-usa-newyork-campaignfinancing-idUSBREA3N1UZ20140424?feedType=RSS&feedName=domesticNews)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/76509/new-york-super-pac-judge/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/76509/new-york-super-pac-judge/"},"headline":"Federal Judge Strikes Down New York's Super PAC Limits","datePublished":"2014-04-24T20:01:51.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T07:29:40.878Z","description":"A Federal judge ruled that state restrictions could not overcome First Amendment scrutiny, given Supreme Court's stance on campaign finance","url":"https://time.com/76509/new-york-super-pac-judge/","keywords":["Campaign Finance","Supreme Court","Courts","First Amendment","super pacs"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Noah Rayman","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/noah-rayman/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/campaign-finance/","name":"Campaign Finance"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/76509/new-york-super-pac-judge/","name":"Federal Judge Strikes Down New York's Super PAC Limits"}}]}] ```