Cite as: 528 U. S. 377 (2000)
Kennedy, J., dissenting
thority in a particular case. See Colorado Republican Federal Campaign Comm. v. Federal Election Comm'n, 518 U. S. 604, 619-621 (1996) (whether claimed "independent expenditure" is a "coordinated expenditure"); accord, id., at 648-650 (Stevens, J., dissenting). Alternatively, it might prove possible to reinterpret aspects of Buckley in light of the post-Buckley experience stressed by Justice Kennedy, post, at 406-409 (dissenting opinion), making less absolute the contribution/expenditure line, particularly in respect to independently wealthy candidates, whose expenditures might be considered contributions to their own campaigns.
But what if I am wrong about Buckley? Suppose Buckley denies the political branches sufficient leeway to enact comprehensive solutions to the problems posed by campaign finance. If so, like Justice Kennedy, I believe the Constitution would require us to reconsider Buckley. With that understanding I join the Court's opinion.
Justice Kennedy, dissenting.
The Court's decision has lasting consequences for political speech in the course of elections, the speech upon which democracy depends. Yet in defining the controlling standard of review and applying it to the urgent claim presented, the Court seems almost indifferent. Its analysis would not be acceptable for the routine case of a single protester with a hand-scrawled sign, see City of Ladue v. Gilleo, 512 U. S. 43 (1994), a few demonstrators on a public sidewalk, see United States v. Grace, 461 U. S. 171 (1983), or a driver who taped over the motto on his license plate because he disagreed with its message, see Wooley v. Maynard, 430 U. S. 705 (1977). Surely the Court's approach is unacceptable for a case announcing a rule that suppresses one of our most essential and prevalent forms of political speech.
It would be no answer to say that this is a routine application of our analysis in Buckley v. Valeo, 424 U. S. 1 (1976) (per curiam), to a similar set of facts, so that a cavalier dis-
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