Buckley v. Valeo

In 1974, Congress amended the Federal Election Campaign Act (the act) significantly. Among other things, the amendments (1) capped the amount that an individual could contribute to any one candidate for federal office at $1,000 per election; (2) limited independent expenditures, meaning the amount a person could personally spend to support a candidate, to $1,000 per election; (3) established the Federal Election Commission (FEC) to administer and enforce the act; and (4) delineated the process for appointing FEC members. For the six voting members, two were to be appointed by the president pro tempore of the Senate, two by the speaker of the House of Representatives, and two by the president. The act then required that all six members be confirmed by both houses of Congress. Multiple political parties and candidates (plaintiffs) sued various government officials (defendants), challenging the constitutionality of the amended act. The political parties and candidates argued that the contribution and expenditure caps restricted political speech and association and therefore violated the First Amendment. They also argued that because of the FEC’s broad rulemaking and enforcement powers, the separation-of-powers doctrine precluded Congress from appointing FEC members. The district court transferred the case to the court of appeals, which upheld the act as constitutional. The political parties and candidates appealed to the United States Supreme Court.