Cite as: 513 U. S. 88 (1994)
Stevens, J., dissenting
General authority to conduct litigation in this Court, refers simply to "suits and appeals." Because the term "suits" apparently refers to our original jurisdiction, it appears that the term "appeals" is intended to refer to a broad range of appellate litigation, including both mandatory appeals and petitions for certiorari.
The ambiguity in the word "appeal" is apparent even in §§ 9010(d) and 9040(d), the sections on which the majority relies to cabin the authority granted in § 437d(a)(6). In those sections, Congress uses the word "appeal" to describe two different categories of appellate litigation. In the text of those sections, "appeal" is used in contradistinction to "writ of certiorari" to indicate mandatory appeals. But Congress also uses "appeal" as the title to both §§ 9010(d) and 9040(d). See n. 4, infra. As thus used, "appeal" describes an entire category of appellate litigation that includes mandatory appeals and writs of certiorari. I see no reason for assuming that "appeal" in § 437d(a)(6) was intended to incorporate the narrow, rather than the broad, understanding of "appeal."
The historical context in which Congress adopted § 437d(a)(6) demonstrates that the interpretation that the Court adopts today is unfaithful to the intent of Congress. Section 437d(a)(6) was passed as part of the Federal Election Campaign Act Amendments of 1974 (FECA). The 1974 amendments represented a response by Congress to perceived abuses arising out of the 1972 Presidential election campaign and culminating in the resignation of President Nixon. Indeed, the legislative history reveals Congress' belief that "[p]robably the most significant reform that could emerge from the Watergate scandal is the creation of an independent nonpartisan agency to supervise the enforcement of the laws relating to the conduct of elections." 2
2 See Final Report of the Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities, S. Rep. No. 93-981, 93d Cong., 2d Sess., 564 (1974).
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