Cite as: 540 U. S. 93 (2003)
Opinion of Kennedy, J.
454 U. S. 290, 297 (1981) (quoting Buckley, supra, at 26-27).
See also Federal Election Comm'n v. Beaumont, 539 U. S. 146 (2003) (furthering this anticorruption rationale by upholding limits on contributions given directly to candidates); Nixon v. Shrink Missouri Government PAC, 528 U. S. 377 (2000) (same).
Despite the Court's attempt to rely on language from cases like Shrink Missouri to establish that the standard defining corruption is broader than conduct that presents a quid pro quo danger, see ante, at 152-153, n. 48, in those cases the Court in fact upheld limits on conduct possessing quid pro quo dangers, and nothing more. See also infra, at 296. For example, the Shrink Missouri Court's distinguishing of what was at issue there and quid pro quo, in fact, shows only that it used the term quid pro quo to refer to actual corrupt, vote-buying exchanges, as opposed to interactions that possessed quid pro quo potential even if innocently undertaken. Thus, the Court said:
"[W]e spoke in Buckley of the perception of corruption 'inherent in a regime of large individual financial contributions' to candidates for public office . . . as a source of concern 'almost equal' to quid pro quo improbity." 528 U. S., at 390 (citations omitted).
Thus, the perception of corruption that the majority now asserts is somehow different from the quid pro quo potential discussed in this opinion was created by an exchange featuring quid pro quo potential—contributions directly to a candidate.
In determining whether conduct poses a quid pro quo danger the analysis is functional. In Buckley, the Court confronted an expenditure limitation provision that capped the amount of money individuals could spend on any activity intended to influence a federal election (i. e., it reached to both independent and coordinated expenditures). See 424 U. S.,
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