>> trevor potter: right.hat's correct. >> kroft: trevor potter is a former chairman of the federal election commission. he says it didn't take long for congressmen and senators to figure out the distinct advantages of having a leadership pac, with no restrictions. >> potter: since they weren't around when the ban on personal use was put into place, they're not covered by it. and they can be used for literally anything. >> kroft: over time, the leadership pacs that were created as a way for congressional leaders of both parties to raise money and distribute it to their members have evolved into something different. today, nearly every congressman and senator has a leadership pac, not just the leaders, and they are used to solicit contributions from friends and supporters in order to advance their political agendas, their careers, and in many cases, their lifestyle. it's like a political slush fund. >> potter: that's exactly what it is; it's a political slush fund. over time, we've had them. they've been outlaw

organization founded by someone familiar to viewers of this broadcast, the republican reformer trevor pottereather gerken clerked with supreme court justice david souter, practiced law, then taught at harvard before joining the faculty of yale. she is the brains behind the "democracy index," a new plan for fair elections. heather gerken, it's good to meet you. >> thank you so much for having me. >> what's at issue in this case? >> as you know when you give in a campaign, you can only give a certain amount of money to a candidate. but there's also a limit that most people never notice because most people don't have nearly enough money to reach it, but there are limits on how much you can spend in the aggregate. so you can spend about $123,000 on federal elections all told. >> in one election cycle -- >> in one election cycle. >> in one two year period -- >> exactly. but what's being argued in this case is that you should be able to spend as much as you want, that is you can have limits on the amount you can give to each candidate and each party committee and each party, but you can give to as