474
REPUBLICAN FEDERAL CAMPAIGN COMM. Thomas, J., dissenting
utors. Parties might be the target of the speech of donors, but that does not suggest that parties are influenced (let alone improperly influenced) by the speech. Thus, the Court offers no explanation for why political parties should be treated the same as individuals and political committees.
B
But even if I were to view parties' coordinated expenditures as akin to contributions by individuals and political committees, I still would hold the Party Expenditure Provision constitutionally invalid. Under Shrink Missouri, a contribution limit is constitutional only if the Government demonstrates that the regulation is "closely drawn" to match a "sufficiently important interest." 528 U. S., at 387-388 (quoting Buckley, 424 U. S., at 25) (internal quotation marks omitted). In this case, there is no question that the Government has asserted a sufficient interest, that of preventing corruption. See Shrink Missouri, supra, at 388 (" '[T]he prevention of corruption and the appearance of corruption' was found to be a 'constitutionally sufficient justification' ") (quoting Buckley, supra, at 25-26). The question is whether the Government has demonstrated both that coordinated expenditures by parties give rise to corruption and that the restriction is "closely drawn" to curb this corruption. I believe it has not.
1
As this Court made clear just last Term, "[w]e have never accepted mere conjecture as adequate to carry a First Amendment burden." Shrink Missouri, 528 U. S., at 392. Some "quantum of empirical evidence [is] needed to satisfy heightened judicial scrutiny of legislative judgments." Id., at 391. Precisely how much evidence is required will "vary up or down with the novelty and plausibility of the justification raised." Ibid. Today, the Court has jettisoned this evidentiary requirement.
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