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Opinion of the Court
disclosure contexts, was the product of statutory interpretation rather than a constitutional command.75 In narrowly reading the FECA provisions in Buckley to avoid problems of vagueness and overbreadth, we nowhere suggested that a statute that was neither vague nor overbroad would be required to toe the same express advocacy line. Nor did we suggest as much in MCFL, 479 U. S. 238 (1986), in which we addressed the scope of another FECA expenditure limitation and confirmed the understanding that Buckley's express advocacy category was a product of statutory construction.76
In short, the concept of express advocacy and the concomitant class of magic words were born of an effort to avoid constitutional infirmities. See NLRB v. Catholic Bishop of Chicago, 440 U. S. 490, 500 (1979) (citing Murray v. Schooner Charming Betsy, 2 Cranch 64, 118 (1804)). We have long " 'rigidly adhered' " to the tenet " 'never to formulate a rule of constitutional law broader than is required by the precise facts to which it is to be applied,' " United States v. Raines, 362 U. S. 17, 21 (1960) (citation omitted), for "[t]he nature of judicial review constrains us to consider the case that is actually before us," James B. Beam Distilling Co. v. Georgia, 501 U. S. 529, 547 (1991) (Blackmun, J., concurring). Consistent with that principle, our decisions in Buckley and MCFL were specific to the statutory language before us; they in no way drew a constitutional boundary that forever fixed the
75 Our adoption of a narrowing construction was consistent with our vagueness and overbreadth doctrines. See Broadrick, 413 U. S., at 613; Grayned, 408 U. S., at 108-114.
76 The provision at issue in MCFL—2 U. S. C. § 441b (1982 ed.)—required corporations and unions to use separate segregated funds, rather than general treasury moneys, on expenditures made " 'in connection with' " a federal election. 479 U. S., at 241. We noted that Buckley had limited the statutory term " 'expenditure' " to words of express advocacy "in order to avoid problems of overbreadth." 479 U. S., at 248. We held that "a similar construction" must apply to the expenditure limitation before us in MCFL and that the reach of 2 U. S. C. § 441b was therefore constrained to express advocacy. 479 U. S., at 249 (emphasis added).
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