Key Campaign Finance Cases

• Buckley v. Valeo, 424 U.S. 1 (1976)

  Major campaign finance case

  • Upheld
    • power of congress to regulate campaign finance
    • limits on campaign contributions
    • campaign spending limits (but only if they were tied to accepting public campaign money)
  • Struck down
    • limits on independent expenditures, i.e. expenditures by individuals and groups that are done independent of a candidate's campaign [made distinction between independent and coordinated expenditures] as a violation of First Amendment rights.
    • original structure of Federal Election Commission as violation of separation of powers.

• Federal Election Commission v. Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, 454 U.S. 27 (1981)

  Allows party committees [e.g. state party committee] to assign all or part of their coordinated spending authority to another party organization [e.g. hill committee] through an agency agreement.

• Federal Election Commission v. Colorado Republican Federal Campaign Committee, U.S. 00-191 (2001)

  Upheld limits on coordinated expenditures made by party committees.

• McConnell v. Federal Election Commission, U.S. 02-1674 (2003)

  Upheld key provisions of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (BCRA) of 2002.  Specifically, the Court upheld a ban on "soft money." National parties are now prohibited from raising and spending "non-federal" funds.

• Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. U.S. 08-205 (2010)

  Struck down a key provision in the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (BCRA) of 2002.  Specifically, the Court struck down a provision that prohibited unions, corporations, and other non-profit organizations from broadcasting electioneering communications within 60 days of a general election or 30 days of a primary because such a prohibition violates the First Amendment freedom of speech.