The case has national implications: One of the people whose Wall Street fundraising could be choked by the 2011 rule is New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, because the SEC rule also applies to state officials seeking federal office. Employees of financial firms gave Mitt Romney $18 million in hard money in 2012 and provided tens of millions more to his super PACs, the New York Times reported at the close of the campaign. Under the SEC rule, Chris Christie would be forbidden to take much of that money unless he resigned his governorship beforehand. (The rule hypothetically applies to any governor seeking federal office, but it is thought to particularly affect Christie because of the New Jersey governor's closeness, literal and figurative, to Wall Street.)

It’s a good guess that the federal courts will listen sympathetically to the challenge to the SEC rule. The Supreme Court has made clear that campaign contributions are protected free speech, both for individuals and for corporations. While protecting against corruption remains a valid basis for restricting contributions, the Court has defined corruption narrowly: In the words of the majority opinion in McCutcheon v. FEC, the most recent major campaign-finance case, corruption is “an effort to control the exercise of an officeholder’s official duties.” And as Justice John Roberts wrote in FEC v. Wisconsin Right to Life, the courts “must err on the side of protecting political speech rather than suppressing it.” It seems very conceivable that the courts will find the SEC rule overly broad.

Meanwhile, it’s a valid question whether the SEC rule is actually achieving anything.

The people with the most sway over state pension-funds decisions are not always—nor even often—elected officials. And those who exert the most effective influence over them are not always—nor even often—campaign contributors.

From the Los Angeles Times in 2010:

Private investment funds paid more than $125 million to scores of intermediaries who helped them win business with the California Public Employees' Retirement System, new documents show, prompting calls for stronger oversight of those who solicit public pension money. The intermediaries, or placement agents, include three former CalPERS board members—one of them William D. Crist, a longtime board president—who lobbied the pension fund on behalf of an investment firm seeking a share of CalPERS' $205 billion in assets. Pension experts say the disclosures are troubling, as lobbying by former board members could put pressure on CalPERS to put money with investment firms that charge excessive fees or that don't offer the best returns. "The fact that people are being lobbied by people who have relations with current board members, even though they are former board members, is totally inappropriate," said Dave Elder, a former assemblyman from Long Beach who monitors CalPERS for public employee unions.

California has since tightened its rules on these placement agents in wake of a pension scandal of its own. In 2013, a former head of CalPERS, Frederico Buenrostro, was indicted on fraud charges arising from a complicated scandal involving fabricated documents and $48 million in fees paid to himself and an associate. Buenrostro pleaded guilty in July. His associate is proceeding to trial.