Today the Supreme Court denied cert. in Cao v. FEC, raising questions about federal party fundraising for candidates under BCRA I thought a grant was likely. Does this mean that Justice Alito and the Chief Justice are a bit gun-shy about wading back into the McCain-Feingold waters, or is something else at work? (Given that Justices Kennedy, Scalia, and Thomas were willing to grant cert. in the similar RNC v. FEC case, I had thought they’d be willing to do so here as well, though there were no dissents from denial of cert. in Cao.)