AP reports.  Judge Randa is the same judge who issued the controversial orders in the John Doe Wisconsin campaign finance case, involving campaign financing surrounding the Wisconsin recalls.  Parts of his order were promptly put on hold by the 7th Circuit, and I expect that could well happen again. UPDATE: I have now read the Court’s opinion (read it here) and it seems like a reasonable, if potentially challengeable application of the Supreme Court’s opinion in McCutcheon. 

It is not exactly the same issue: McCutcheon involved (among other things) a limit on the total amount that one individual could give to all federal candidates in an election. The disputed provision here limits the total amount of money from ALL political committees which a state candidate can take. Judge Randa said this kind of aggregate limit violated the First Amendment under McCutcheon. The state of Wisconsin defended this kind of aggregate limit to prevent individuals from setting up unlimited committees to circumvent individual contribution limits. Judge Randa thought other laws in place would take care of that—on this point I’m not so sure.

Perhaps the potential greatest ground for trying to get at least a temporary reversal of Judge Randa is that he’s acting to change the rules in the middle of the election season, something courts generally try to avoid.

But there’s a fair chance the 7th Circuit will let this one stand.

[This post has been updated.]