476
REPUBLICAN FEDERAL CAMPAIGN COMM. Thomas, J., dissenting
record that the parties have since developed, such a departure might be justified. But as the District Court found, "[t]he facts which [the] FEC contends support its position . . . do not establish that the limit on party coordinated expenditures is necessary to prevent corruption or the appearance thereof." 41 F. Supp. 2d, at 1211. Indeed, "[n]one of the FEC's examples [of alleged corruption] involve[s] coordinated expenditures." Ibid. See also App. in No. 99-1211 (CA10), at 346 (declaration of Herbert E. Alexander) ("In the decades since 1974, when coordinated expenditures were allowed for both presidential and congressional campaigns, there has not been any dispute relating to them, no charges of corruption or the appearance thereof . . ."); id., at 430 (statement of Anthony Corrado) ("There is no academic analysis or scholarly study conducted to date that demonstrates that parties are corrupted by the federally regulated contributions, the so-called 'hard-money funds,' they receive from donors. None of the studies of party finance or party coordinated spending contend[s] that these funds are corruptive or generate the appearance of corruption in the political process"); id., at 624 (deposition of John Heubusch) (testifying that, in his experience, political party spending was not a source of corruption of Members of the United States Senate).6
The dearth of evidence is unsurprising in light of the unique relationship between a political party and its candidates: "The very aim of a political party is to influence its candidate's stance on issues and, if the candidate takes office or is reelected, his votes." Colorado I, 518 U. S., at
6 In Missouri Republican Party v. Lamb, 227 F. 3d 1070 (2000), the Eighth Circuit held that the State of Missouri's restrictions on contributions by political parties violated the First Amendment. In accord with the Tenth Circuit in this case, the Eighth Circuit concluded that "the record is wholly devoid of any evidence that limiting parties' campaign contributions will either reduce corruption or measurably decrease the number of occasions on which limitations on individuals' campaign contributions are circumvented." Id., at 1073.
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