Campaign Finance and Other Political Campaign Regulations
The regulation of political campaigns has led to numerous Supreme Court rulings involving free speech rights embodied in the First Amendment. Issues have included ballot access, rights of political parties, electioneering and what can be said during a campaign, campaign dislcosure requirements and contribution limits.
Following is a list of Supreme Court cases involving political campaign regulations and campaign finance.
FEC v. Wisconsin Right to Life, Inc. (2007) ruled that part of the
Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act violated the First Amendment as applied to
certain forms of political speech.
FEC v. National Right to Work Committee (1982) upheld regulations on PAC
contributions solicited by corporations and said the regulations outweighed
certain First Amendment rights.
In Federal Election Commission v. National Conservative PAC (1985), the
Court said that a ban on certain independent PAC spending violated the
First Amendment.
FEC v. Massachusetts Citizens for Life (1986) found that while a nonprofit
corporation violated the Federal Election Campaign Act, its application
violated the First Amendment.
FEC v. CO Republican Federal Campaign Committee (2001) upheld limits on
parties’ direct candidate contributions but confirmed the First Amendment
right to independent expenditures.
FEC v. Beaumont (2003) said laws barring corporations’ direct candidate
contributions do not violate the First Amendment rights of nonprofit
advocacy groups.
The court did not grant certiorari in Delaware Strong Families v. Penn
(2016), which dealt with campaign disclosure and First Amendment anonymity
rights.
Davis v. Federal Election Commission (2008) struck down the “Millionaire’s
Amendment” of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act for violating the First
Amendment.