Buckley v. Valeo - campaign finance
01/29/1976 AD decided

Landmark decision of the US Supreme Court on campaign finance. A majority of justices held that limits on election spending in the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 § 608 are unconstitutional. In a per curiam (by the Court) opinion, they ruled that expenditure limits contravene the First Amendment provision on freedom of speech because a restriction on spending for political communication necessarily reduces the quantity of expression. It limited disclosure provisions and limited the Federal Election Commission's power. Justice Byron White dissented in part and wrote that Congress had legitimately recognized unlimited election spending "as a mortal danger against which effective preventive and curative steps must be taken".

Buckley v. Valeo was extended by the U.S. Supreme Court in further cases, including in the five to four decision of First National Bank of Boston v. Bellotti in 1978 and Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission in 2010. The latter held that corporations may spend from their general treasuries during elections. In 2014, McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission held that aggregate limits on political giving by an individual are unconstitutional.

In a per curiam opinion, the Supreme Court held that several key provisions of the Campaign Finance Act of 1971, which limited expenditure by political campaigns, are unconstitutional and contrary to the First Amendment. The major holdings were as follows:

• The Court upheld limits on contributions to candidates.
• The Court upheld limitations on volunteers' incidental expenses.
• The Court upheld the aggregate limit on an individual's total contributions to all candidates and committees in a calendar year.
• The Court struck down limits on expenditures by candidates.
• The Court struck down limits on independent expenditures (i.e., expenditures by other groups or individuals than candidates and political parties).
• The Court upheld mandatory disclosure and reporting provisions, but it narrowed the types of speech to which they could apply.
• The Court upheld a system of voluntary government funding of campaigns, including limits on spending by candidates who choose to accept government subsidies.
• The Court struck down the system by which members of Congress directly appointed Federal Election Commission commissioners.

Washington, D.C.

Lattitude: 38.9072° N
Longitude: 77.0369° W
Region: North America

Modern Day United States

Events in 1976 MORE