622
Opinion of Breyer, J.
ture" cannot (for constitutional purposes) make it one. See, e. g., NAACP v. Button, 371 U. S. 415, 429 (1963) (the government "cannot foreclose the exercise of constitutional rights by mere labels"); Edwards v. South Carolina, 372 U. S. 229, 235-238 (1963) (State may not avoid First Amendment's strictures by applying the label "breach of the peace" to peaceful demonstrations).
The Government also argues that the Colorado Party has conceded that the expenditures are "coordinated." But there is no such concession in respect to the underlying facts. To the contrary, the Party's "Questions Presented" in its petition for certiorari describes the expenditure as one "the party has not coordinated with its candidate." See Pet. for Cert. i. In the lower courts the Party did accept the FEC's terminology, but it did so in the context of legal arguments that did not focus upon the constitutional distinction that we now consider. See Reply Brief for Petitioners 9-10, n. 8 (denying that the FEC's labels can control constitutional analysis). The Government has not referred us to any place where the Party conceded away or abandoned its legal claim that Congress may not limit the uncoordinated expenditure at issue here. And, in any event, we are not bound to decide a matter of constitutional law based on a concession by the particular party before the Court as to the proper legal characterization of the facts. Cf. United States Nat. Bank of Ore. v. Independent Ins. Agents of America, Inc., 508 U. S. 439, 447 (1993); Massachusetts v. United States, 333 U. S. 611, 623-628 (1948); Young v. United States, 315 U. S. 257, 259 (1942) (recognizing that "our judgments are precedents" and that the proper understanding of matters of law "cannot be left merely to the stipulation of parties").
Finally, the Government and supporting amici argue that the expenditure is "coordinated" because a party and its candidate are identical, i. e., the party, in a sense, "is" its candidates. We cannot assume, however, that this is so. See, e. g., W. Keefe, Parties, Politics, and Public Policy in America
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