Cite as: 518 U. S. 604 (1996)
Opinion of Thomas, J.
thing resembling it. See Austin v. Michigan Chamber of Commerce, 494 U. S. 652, 689 (1990) (Scalia, J., dissenting) (where statute "extends to speech that has the mere potential for producing social harm" it should not be held to satisfy the narrow tailoring requirement (emphasis in original)). Thus, the statute indiscriminately covers the many conceivable instances in which a party committee could exceed the spending limits without any intent to extract an unlawful commitment from a candidate. Cf. Schaumburg v. Citizens for a Better Environment, 444 U. S. 620, 637 (1980) (State may not, in effort to stop fraud in charitable solicitations, "lump" truly charitable organizations "with those that in fact are using the charitable label as a cloak for profitmaking and refuse to employ more precise measures to separate one kind from the other"). As one commentator has observed: "[I]t must not be forgotten that a large number of contributions are made without any hope of specific gain: for the promotion of a program, because of enthusiasm for a candidate, or to promote what the giver vaguely conceives to be the national interest." L. Overacker, Money in Elections 192 (1974).
In contrast, federal bribery laws are designed to punish and deter the corrupt conduct the Government seeks to prevent under FECA, and disclosure laws work to make donors and donees accountable to the public for any questionable financial dealings in which they may engage. Cf. Schaumburg v. Citizens for a Better Environment, supra, at 637-638 (explaining that "less intrusive" means of preventing fraud in charitable solicitation are "the penal laws [that can be] used to punish such conduct directly" and "disclosure of the finances of charitable organizations"). In light of these alternatives, wholesale limitations that cover contributions having nothing to do with bribery—but with speech central to the First Amendment—are not narrowly tailored.
Buckley's rationale for the contrary conclusion, see supra, at 641-642, is faulty. That bribery laws are not completely effective in stamping out corruption is no justification for the
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