Bread Political Action Committee et al. v. Federal Election Commission et al. (455 U.S. 577)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided March 8, 1982 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 455 U.S. 577 · 102 S. Ct. 1235
- Decided
- March 8, 1982
- Term
- October Term 1981
- Vote
- 9–0
- Majority author
- Justice O'Connor
- Issue area
- First Amendment
- Disposition
- Reversed and remanded
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Liberal
Opinion excerpt
Justice O’Connor delivered the opinion of the Court. Section 310(a) of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (FECA), 88 Stat. 1285, as amended, 2 U. S. C. §437h(a) (1976 ed., Supp. IV), lists three categories of plaintiffs who may challenge the constitutional validity of FECA in specially expedited suits: (1) the Federal Election Commission (FEC), (2) “the national committee of any political party,” and (3) “any individual eligible to vote in any election for the office of President.” In this case, we address a question we expressly reserved in California Medical Assn. v. FEC, 453 U. S. 182, 187, n. 6 (1981): whether a party not belonging to one of the three categories listed in § 437h(a) may nonetheless invoke its procedures. I The appellants are two trade associations and three political action committees (PAC’s): the National Restaurant Association and its associated PAC, the Restaurateurs Political Action Committee, the National Lumber and Building Material Dealers Association and its associated PAC, the Lumber Dealers Political Action Committee, and the Bread Political Action Committee, the PAC associated with the American Bakers Association. In order to challenge the validity of 2 U. S. C. § 441b(b)(4)(D), which has the effect of limiting the extent to which trade associations and their PAC’s may solicit funds for political purposes, the appellants filed an action…
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