Cite as: 533 U. S. 431 (2001)
Opinion of the Court
limited to spending the greater of $20,000 (adjusted for inflation, § 441a(c)) or two cents multiplied by the voting age population of the State in which the election is held, § 441a(d)(3)(A).3
Colorado I was an as-applied challenge to § 441a(d)(3) (which we spoke of as the Party Expenditure Provision), occasioned by the Commission's enforcement action against the Colorado Republican Federal Campaign Committee (Party) for exceeding the campaign spending limit through its payments for radio advertisements attacking Democratic Congressman and senatorial candidate Timothy Wirth. 518 U. S., at 612-613. The Party defended in part with the claim that the party expenditure limitations violated the First Amendment, and the principal opinion in Colorado I agreed that the limitations were unconstitutional as applied to the advertising expenditures at issue. Unlike the Commission, the Members of the Court who joined the principal opinion thought the payments were "independent expenditures" as that term had been used in our prior cases, owing to the facts that the Party spent the money before selecting its own senatorial candidate and without any arrangement with potential nominees. Id., at 613-614 (opinion of Breyer, J.).
The Party's broader claim remained: that although prior decisions of this Court had upheld the constitutionality of limits on coordinated expenditures by political speakers
the [Federal Election] Commission." § 431(14). A "state committee" fills the same role at the state level. § 431(15).
3 The same limits apply to campaigns for House of Representatives from States entitled to only one Representative. § 441a(d)(3)(A). For other States, the limit on party expenditures in connection with House campaigns is $10,000 preadjustment. § 441a(d)(3)(B). As adjusted for inflation, the 2000 Senate limits ranged from $67,560 to $1,636,438; House limits ranged from $33,780 to $67,560. 26 FEC Record 14-15 (Mar. 2000).
The FEC reads the Act to permit parties to make campaign contributions within the otherwise-applicable contribution limits, in addition to the expenditures permitted by § 441a(d). See n. 16, infra.
439
Page: Index Previous 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 NextLast modified: October 4, 2007