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Democratic lawmakers and campaign finance reform advocates quickly bashed Wednesdays Supreme Court decision to strike down total limits on individual campaign contributions, warning of future corruption in elections.

Meanwhile, Republicans largely cheered the ruling from the narrowly divided court, which found it unconstitutional to impose caps on the aggregate amounts that one person can donate to campaigns, parties and political action committees.

Calling himself all for freedom, Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) on Wednesday commended the ruling, saying donors ought to have the freedom to give what they want to give. And Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who had filed a friend-of-the-court brief in the case, also praised the decision.

(Also on POLITICO: Supreme Court strikes down aggregate campaign giving limits)

Let me be clear for all those who would criticize the decision: It does not permit one more dime to be given to an individual candidate or a party, McConnell said Wednesday. It just respects the constitutional rights of individuals to decide how many to support.

Senate Democrats, who control the chamber, are already planning to respond. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) said he will hold a hearing on the impact of the McCutcheon decision and other rulings from the high court that he says have eviscerated our campaign finance laws.

Meanwhile, Maine Sen. Angus King, an independent who caucuses with Democrats, said he introduced legislation intended to make donations more transparent by requiring all contributions of $1,000 or more to be disclosed to the Federal Election Commission within 48 hours. A campaign bill in the House will be introduced by Rep. Beto ORourke (D-Texas).

(Also on POLITICO: Dems lead Twitter charge against ruling)

New York Sen. Chuck Schumer, the third-ranking Senate Democrat who also chairs the Rules Committee, said the panel will hold hearings on the ruling and that leadership will explore what can be done legislatively. A Constitutional amendment proposed by Sen. Tom Udall (D-N.M.), which would explicitly give Congress the power to regulate campaign finance for federal races, is a more attractive option since the court ruling was made on First Amendment grounds, Schumer said.

The specific effect of this decision is not that large because were already awash in money, Schumer told reporters Wednesday. But it shows where the Supreme Court is headed, which is to dismantle other even more significant limits so that any person could write out a check of any size and undisclosed, put it into unlimited numbers of races. And that direction as I said, it would be like the 1890s. Wed go back to the days of the robber barons.

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Democrats bash SCOTUS ruling