Cite as: 533 U. S. 431 (2001)
Syllabus
mand a higher standard of scrutiny before its coordinated spending can be limited. Pp. 440-445.
(b) The Party's argument that its coordinated spending, like its independent spending, should be left free from restriction under the Buckley line of cases boils down to this: because a party's most important speech is aimed at electing candidates and is itself expressed through those candidates, any limit on party support for a candidate imposes a unique First Amendment burden. Limitation of any party expenditure coordinated with a candidate, the Party contends, is therefore a serious, rather than incidental, imposition on the party's speech and associative purpose, which justifies a stricter level of scrutiny than has been applied to analogous limits on individuals and nonparty groups. But whatever level of scrutiny is applied to such a limit, the Party argues, the burden on a party reflects a fatal mismatch between the effects of limiting coordinated party expenditures and the prevention of corruption or its appearance. In contrast, the Government's argument for characterizing coordinated spending like contributions goes back to Buckley, which, in effect, subjected limits on coordinated expenditures by individuals and nonparty groups to the same scrutiny it applied to limits on their cash contributions. The standard of scrutiny requires the limit to be closely drawn to match a sufficiently important interest, though the limit's dollar amount need not be fine tuned. See, e. g., Buckley, supra, at 25, 30. The Government develops this rationale a step further here, arguing that a party's coordinated spending should be limited not only because it is like a party contribution, but because giving a party the right to make unlimited coordinated expenditures would induce those wishing to support a nominee to contribute to the party in order to finance coordinated spending for that candidate, thereby increasing circumvention and bypassing the limits Buckley upheld. Pp. 445-447.
(c) Although each of the competing positions is plausible at first blush, evaluation of the arguments prompts rejection of the Party's claim to suffer a burden unique in any way that should make a categorical difference under the First Amendment. And the Government's contentions are ultimately borne out by evidence, entitling it to prevail in its characterization of party coordinated spending as the functional equivalent of contributions. Pp. 447-460.
(1) The Party's argument that unrestricted coordinated spending is essential to a party's nature because of its unique relationship with candidates has been rendered implausible by nearly 30 years' history under the Act. Since 1974, a party's coordinated spending in a given race has been limited by the provision challenged here (or its predecessor). It was not until the 1996 Colorado I decision that any spending was allowed above that amount, and since then only independent
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