384
Opinion of the Court
tention that inflation since Buckley's approval of a federal $1,000 restriction meant that the state limit of $1,075 for a statewide office could not be constitutional today. 5 F. Supp. 2d, at 740.
The Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit nonetheless enjoined enforcement of the law pending appeal, 151 F. 3d 763, 765 (1998), and ultimately reversed the District Court, 161 F. 3d, at 520. Finding that Buckley had " 'articulated and applied a strict scrutiny standard of review,' " the Court of Appeals held that Missouri was bound to demonstrate "that it has a compelling interest and that the contribution limits at issue are narrowly drawn to serve that interest." 161 F. 3d, at 521 (quoting Carver v. Nixon, supra, at 637). The appeals court treated Missouri's claim of a compelling interest "in avoiding the corruption or the perception of corruption brought about when candidates for elective office accept large campaign contributions" as insufficient by itself to satisfy strict scrutiny. 161 F. 3d, at 521-522. Relying on Circuit precedent, see Russell v. Burris, 146 F. 3d 563, 568 (CA8), cert. denied, 525 U. S. 1001 (1998); Carver v. Nixon, supra, at 638, the Court of Appeals required
"some demonstrable evidence that there were genuine problems that resulted from contributions in amounts greater than the limits in place. . . .
"[T]he Buckley Court noted the perfidy that had been uncovered in federal campaign financing in 1972. . . . But we are unwilling to extrapolate from those examples that in Missouri at this time there is corruption or a perception of corruption from 'large' campaign contributions, without some evidence that such problems really exist." 161 F. 3d, at 521-522 (citations omitted).
The court thought that the only evidence presented by the State, an affidavit from the cochairman of the state legislature's Interim Joint Committee on Campaign Finance Reform when the statute was passed, was inadequate to raise
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