Federal Election Commission v. Massachusetts Citizens for Life, Inc. (479 U.S. 238)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided December 15, 1986 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 479 U.S. 238 · 107 S. Ct. 616
- Decided
- December 15, 1986
- Term
- October Term 1986
- Vote
- 5–4
- Majority author
- Justice Brennan
- Issue area
- First Amendment
- Disposition
- Affirmed
- Outcome
- Petitioning party lost
- Ideological direction
- Liberal
- Constitutional ruling
- Federal law held unconstitutional
Opinion excerpt
Justice Brennan announced the judgment of the Court and delivered the opinion of the Court with respect to Parts I, II, III-B, and III-C, and an opinion with respect to Part III-A, in which Justice Marshall, Justice Powell, and Justice Scalia join. The questions for decision here arise under §316 of the Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA or Act), 90 Stat. 490, as renumbered and amended, 2 U. S. C. §441b. The first question is whether appellee Massachusetts Citizens for Life, Inc. (MCFL), a nonprofit, nonstock corporation, by financing certain activity with its treasury funds, has violated the restriction on independent spending contained in § 441b. That section prohibits corporations from using treasury funds to make an expenditure “in connection with” any federal election, and requires that any expenditure for such purpose be financed by voluntary contributions to a separate segregated fund. If appellee has violated § 441b, the next question is whether application of that section to MCFL’s conduct is constitutional. We hold that the appellee’s use of its treasury funds is prohibited by §441b, but that §441b is unconstitutional as applied to the activity of which the Federal Election Commission (FEC or Commission) complains. J — < □> MCFL was incorporated m January 1973 as a nonprofit, nonstock corporation under Massachusetts law. Its corporate purpose as stated in its…
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