468
REPUBLICAN FEDERAL CAMPAIGN COMM. Thomas, J., dissenting
Take, for example, a situation in which the party develops a television advertising campaign touting a candidate's record on education, and the party simply "consult[s]," 2 U. S. C. § 441a(a)(7)(B)(i), with the candidate on which time slot the advertisement should run for maximum effectiveness. I see no constitutional difference between this expenditure and a purely independent one. In the language of Buckley, the advertising campaign is not a mere "general expression of support for the candidate and his views," but a communication of "the underlying basis for the support." 424 U. S., at 21. It is not just "symbolic expression," ibid., but a clear manifestation of the party's most fundamental political views. By restricting such speech, the Party Expenditure Provision undermines parties' "freedom to discuss candidates and issues," ibid., and cannot be reconciled with our campaign finance jurisprudence.
2
Even if I were to ignore the breadth of the statutory text, and to assume that all coordinated expenditures are functionally equivalent to contributions,2 I still would strike down the Party Expenditure Provision. The source of the "contribution" at issue is a political party, not an individual or a political committee, as in Buckley and Shrink Missouri.
2 The Court makes this very assumption. See ante, at 464 ("There is no significant functional difference between a party's coordinated expenditure and a direct party contribution to the candidate"). To the extent the Court has not defined the universe of coordinated expenditures and leaves open the possibility that there are such expenditures that would not be functionally identical to direct contributions, the constitutionality of the Party Expenditure Provision as applied to such expenditures remains unresolved. See, e. g., ante, at 456, n. 17. At oral argument, the Government appeared to suggest that the Party Expenditure Provision might not reach expenditures that are not functionally identical to contributions. See Tr. of Oral Arg. 15 (stating that the purpose of the Party Expenditure Provision is simply to prevent someone "from making contributions in the form of paying the candidate's bills").
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