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Opinion of the Court
tribution limits that had enabled contributors of massive sums to avoid disclosure. Id., at 837-841.6
The Court of Appeals upheld the provisions establishing contribution and expenditure limitations on the theory that they should be viewed as regulations of conduct rather than speech. Id., at 840-841 (citing United States v. O'Brien, 391 U. S. 367, 376-377 (1968)). This Court, however, concluded that each set of limitations raised serious—though different—concerns under the First Amendment. Buckley v. Valeo, 424 U. S. 1, 14-23 (1976) (per curiam). We treated the limitations on candidate and individual expenditures as direct restraints on speech, but we observed that the contribution limitations, in contrast, imposed only "a marginal restriction upon the contributor's ability to engage in free communication." Id., at 20-21. Considering the "deeply disturbing examples" of corruption related to candidate contributions discussed in the Court of Appeals' opinion, we determined that limiting contributions served an interest in protecting "the integrity of our system of representative democracy." Id., at 26-27. In the end, the Act's primary purpose—"to limit the actuality and appearance of corruption resulting from large individual financial contributions"—proof improper attempts to obtain governmental favor in return for large campaign contributions. See Findings I, ¶¶ 159-64." Id., at 839, n. 37.
6 The court cited the intricate scheme of the American Milk Producers, Inc., as an example of the lengths to which contributors went to avoid their duty to disclose:
"Since the milk producers, on legal advice, worked on a $2500 limit per committee, they evolved a procedure, after consultation in November 1970 with Nixon fund raisers, to break down [their $2 million donation] into numerous smaller contributions to hundreds of committees in various states which could then hold the money for the President's reelection campaign, so as to permit the producers to meet independent reporting requirements without disclosure." Id., at 839, n. 36.
The milk producers contributed large sums to the Nixon campaign "in order to gain a meeting with White House officials on price supports." Ibid.
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