WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to consider whether the statutory limits on how much individuals can give in federal campaign contributions during a two-year election cycle is unconstitutional.

The Republican National Committee and donor Shaun McCutcheon sought the high court's review of the aggregate amount people can give in a two-year period, which is currently $46,200 to candidate committees and $70,800 to all other committees.

The limits, designed to restrict the influence of a single individual, were originally imposed by the 1971 Federal Election Campaign Act.

A three-judge panel of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia rejected the contention that the limits violated the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

The court will decide the case sometime during its next term, which starts in October and ends in June 2014.

The case is McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission, U.S. Supreme Court, No. 12-536.

(Reporting by Lawrence Hurley; Editing by Howard Goller and Bill Trott)