Introduction

The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday heard oral arguments in McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission, a challenge to the existing “aggregate” limits on how much money any one person can donate to all federal-level candidates, parties and political action committees.

Hours after the nine justices quizzed lawyers in the high-profile case, President Barack Obama provided a forceful response, tying the nation’s campaign finance system to the current showdown over the government shutdown.

His answer during a press conference to a question about the McCutcheon case also contained several buzzwords designed to score points with his liberal base.

Here are the president’s remarks, along with some of the things he left unsaid.