Mitch Mcconnell, United States Senator, et al. v. Federal Election Commission, et al. (540 U.S. 93)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided December 10, 2003 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 540 U.S. 93 · 124 S. Ct. 619
- Decided
- December 10, 2003
- Term
- October Term 2003
- Vote
- 5–4
- Majority author
- Justice Stevens
- Issue area
- First Amendment
- Disposition
- Affirmed and reversed (or vacated) in part
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Liberal
- Constitutional ruling
- Federal law held unconstitutional
Opinion excerpt
Justice Stevens and Justice O’Connor delivered the opinion of the Court with respect to BCRA Titles I and II. The Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 (BCRA), 116 Stat. 81, contains a series of amendments to the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (FECA or Act), 86 Stat. 11, as amended, 2 U. S. C. §431 et seq. (2000 ed. and Supp. II), the Communications Act of 1934, 48 Stat. 1088, as amended, 47 U. S. C. § 315 (2000 ed. and Supp. II), and other portions of the United States Code, 18 U. S. C. §607 (Supp. II), 36 U. S. C. §§510-511 (Supp. II), that are challenged in these cases. In this opinion we discuss Titles I and II of BCRA. The opinion of the Court delivered by The ChieF Justice, post, p. 224, discusses Titles III and IV, and the opinion of the Court delivered by Justice Breyer, post, p. 233, discusses Title. V. I More than a century ago the “sober-minded Elihu Root” advocated legislation that would prohibit political contributions by corporations in order to prevent “ 'the great aggregations of wealth, from using their corporate funds, directly or indirectly,’ ” to elect legislators who would “ ‘vote for their protection and the advancement of their interests as against those of the public.’ ” United States v. Automobile Workers, 352 U. S. 567, 571 (1957) (quoting E. Root, Addresses on Government and Citizenship 143 (R. Bacon & J. Scott eds. 1916)). In Root’s…
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