Federal Election Commission v. James E. Akins, Richard Curtiss, Paul Findley, Robert J. Hanks, Andrew Killgore, and Orin Parker (524 U.S. 11)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided June 1, 1998 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 524 U.S. 11 · 118 S. Ct. 1777
- Decided
- June 1, 1998
- Term
- October Term 1997
- Vote
- 6–3
- Majority author
- Justice Breyer
- Issue area
- Judicial Power
- Disposition
- Vacated and remanded
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Liberal
Opinion excerpt
Justice Breyer delivered the opinion of the Court. The Federal Election Commission (FEC) has determined that the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) is not a “political committee” as defined by the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (FECA or Act), 86 Stat. 11, as amended, 2 U. S. C. §481(4), and, for that reason, the FEC has refused to require AIPAC to make disclosures regarding its membership, contributions, and expenditures that FECA would otherwise require. We hold that respondents, a group of voters, have standing to challenge the Commission’s determination in court, and we remand this ease for further proceedings. I In light of our disposition of this ease, we believe it necessary to describe its procedural background in some detail. As commonly understood, the FECA seeks to remedy any actual or perceived corruption of the political process in several important ways. The Act imposes limits upon the amounts that individuals, corporations, “political committees” (including political action committees), and political parties can contribute to a candidate for federal political office. §§441a(a), 441a(b), 441b. The Act also imposes limits on the amount these individuals or entities can spend in coordination with a candidate. (It treats these expenditures' as “contributions to” a candidate for purposes of the Act.) §441a(a)(7)(B)(i). As originally written, the…
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