ORAL ARGUMENT NOT YET SCHEDULED 

No. 08-5223 

_______________________________________________ 

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS 

FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA CIRCUIT 

_______________________________________________ 

SPEECHNOW.ORG, et al.,

Appellants, 

v. 

FEDERAL ELECTION COMMISSION, 

Appellee. 

_______________________________________________ 

On Appeal from the United States District Court 

for the District of Columbia 

_______________________________________________ 

BRIEF FOR THE FEDERAL ELECTION COMMISSION 

_______________________________________________ 

Thomasenia P. Duncan 

General Counsel 

 

David Kolker 

Associate General Counsel 

 

Kevin Deeley 

Assistant General Counsel 

 Vivien Clair 

Attorney 

Steve Hajjar 

Attorney 

FEDERAL ELECTION COMMISSION 

999 E Street, N.W. 

 Washington, D.C. 20463 

September 23, 2009 (202) 694-1650 

Case: 08-5223 Document: 1207856 Filed: 09/23/2009 Page: 1
CERTIFICATE AS TO PARTIES, RULINGS, AND RELATED CASES 

 Pursuant to D.C. Cir. R. 28(a)(1), the Federal Election Commission 

(“Commission”) submits its Certificate as to Parties, Rulings, and Related Cases. 

(A) Parties and Amici. SpeechNow.org and five individual plaintiffs (David 

Keating, Fred M. Young, Edward H. Crane III, Brad Russo, and Scott Burkhardt) 

were the preliminary injunction movants in the district court and are the appellants 

in this Court. The Commission was the defendant below and is the appellee in this 

Court. 

The Campaign Legal Center and Democracy 21 were amici curiae in the 

district court. There were no intervenors. Buckeye Institute’s 1851 Center for 

Constitutional Law, Concerned Women for America Legislative Action 

Committee, FRC Action, and Goldwater Institute’s Scharf-Norton Center for 

Constitutional Litigation are amici curiae in this Court. 

(B) Rulings Under Review. SpeechNow.org and the five individual plaintiffs 

appeal the July 1, 2008, order of the United States District Court for the District of 

Columbia (Robertson, J.) denying their motion for a preliminary injunction. The 

district court’s opinion is published at 567 F. Supp. 2d 70 (D.D.C. 2008). The slip 

copy of the opinion is included in the Joint Appendix (“J.A.”) at 372-399. 

(C) Related Cases. Appellants filed a notice of appeal of the denial of their 

preliminary injunction motion on July 23, 2008. (J.A. 9, Entry 38.) This Court 

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assigned a docket number (08-5223) and issued scheduling orders. On November 

7, 2008, appellants successfully moved to hold their appeal in abeyance. On June 

23, 2009, appellants revived their appeal. Other than those proceedings, this case 

has not been before any court other than the district court below, and the 

Commission knows of no “related cases” as that term is defined in D.C. Cir. R. 

28(a)(1)(C). 

Case: 08-5223 Document: 1207856 Filed: 09/23/2009 Page: 3
TABLE OF CONTENTS 

 Page 

COUNTERSTATEMENT OF JURISDICTION ....................................... 1 

COUNTERSTATEMENT OF ISSUE PRESENTED................................ 1 

STATUTES AND REGULATIONS.......................................................... 1 

COUNTERSTATEMENT OF THE FACTS ............................................. 1 

I. BACKGROUND .............................................................................. 1 

 A. The Parties............................................................................... 1 

 B. SpeechNow’s Advisory Opinion Request.............................. 5 

 C. Statutory and Regulatory Background................................... 5 

 1. Contributions and Expenditures .................................... 5 

 2. Political Committees..................................................... 6 

 3. Contribution Limits ....................................................... 7 

 4. Independent Expenditures............................................. 7 

II. COURT PROCEEDINGS................................................................. 8 

SUMMARY OF ARGUMENT ................................................................ 12 

ARGUMENT ............................................................................................ 15 

THE DISTRICT COURT DID NOT ABUSE ITS DISCRETION 

IN DENYING SPEECHNOW’S PRELIMINARY INJUNCTION 

MOTION................................................................................................... 15 

 I. STANDARD OF REVIEW AND A MOVANT’S BURDEN 

 IN SEEKING A PRELIMINARY INJUNCTION......................... 15 

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 II. SPEECHNOW FAILED TO CARRY ITS BURDEN FOR A 

 PRELIMINARY INJUNCTION .................................................... 16 

 A. SpeechNow Failed to Demonstrate a Likelihood of 

 Success on the Merits............................................................ 17 

1. The Act’s Limit on an Individual’s Contributions to 

 Political Committees Is Constitutional as Applied... 19 

a. Intermediate Scrutiny Applies to the Contribution Limits.................................................... 19

b. Supreme Court Precedent Supports the 

Constitutionality of Limitations on Contributions to Political Committees that Purport 

 to Make Only Independent Expenditures ....... 24 

 

c. Additional legislative facts from McConnell 

 and other sources demonstrate that large 

 contributions to groups that make independent expenditures can lead to corruption 

and its appearance........................................... 34 

d. A Victory for SpeechNow Would Undermine 

 the Anti-Corruption Purpose of the Act.......... 43 

e. Contributors to SpeechNow Differ in Constitutionally Significant Ways from Individual 

Independent Speakers...................................... 46 

f. Unlimited Contributions to Organizations 

 Like SpeechNow Would Undercut the Act’s 

 Disclaimer Requirements ............................... 47 

 

 2. The Act’s Biennial Aggregate Contribution 

 Limits are Constitutional.............................................. 49 

B. SpeechNow Failed To Demonstrate Irreparable Harm........ 50 

ii

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 1. SpeechNow’s Alleged Injuries Are Neither Actual 

 Nor Certain and, If They Exist, Are Largely Self- 

 Inflicted ......................................................................... 51 

 2. The Contribution Limits Do Not Substantially 

 Harm the Speech and Associational Rights of 

 the Individual Appellants.............................................. 56 

 3. SpeechNow Faces No Imminent or Irreparable 

 Injury from the Possibility of an Enforcement 

 Proceeding..................................................................... 58 

C. The Requested Preliminary Injunction Would Substantially 

Harm the Commission and the Public.................................. 60 

 

CONCLUSION......................................................................................... 62 

iii

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TABLE OF AUTHORITIES 

 Page 

Cases 

Am. Trucking Ass’ns v. City of Los Angeles, 559 F.3d 1046 (9th Cir. 2009)...........16 

Ashcroft v. ACLU, 542 U.S. 656 (2004) ............................................................18, 19 

Ass’n of Nat’l Advertisers, Inc. v. FTC, 627 F.2d 1151 (D.C. Cir. 1979)...............34 

Barton v. District of Columbia, 131 F. Supp. 2d 236 (D.D.C. 2001)......................55 

*Buckley v. Valeo, 424 U.S. 1 

 (1976)..................... 6, 9, 13, 19, 20, 21, 22, 25, 26, 29, 30, 31, 47, 49, 56, 57 

Byrum v. Landreth, 566 F.3d 442 (5th Cir. 2009) ....................................................19 

*California Medical Ass’n v. FEC, 453 U.S. 182 

(1981)...................................................... 10, 21, 26, 27, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 49 

Caperton v. A.T. Massey Coal Co., Inc., 129 S. Ct. 2252 (2009) ...........................42 

Caplan v. Fellheimer Eichen Braverman & Kaskey, 68 F.3d 828 

(3rd Cir. 1995) ................................................................................................55 

*Chaplaincy of Full Gospel Churches v. England, 454 F.3d 290 (D.C. Cir. 

 2006) ...........................................................................................50, 55, 58, 59 

Charlesbank Equity Fund II v. Blinds To Go, Inc., 370 F.3d 151 (1st Cir. 

2004)..............................................................................................................55 

Christian Knights of the Ku Klux Klan Invisible Empire, Inc. v. District of 

Columbia, 919 F.2d 148 (D.C. Cir. 1990).....................................................58 

Citizens Against Rent Control v. City of Berkeley, 454 U.S. 290 (1981)..........22, 29 

*Cases and Authorities chiefly relied upon are marked with an asterisk. 

iv

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CityFed. Fin. Corp. v. OTS, 58 F.3d 738 (D.C. Cir. 1995) .....................................61 

Cobell v. Norton, 391 F.3d 251 (D.C. Cir. 2004) ....................................................15 

*Colorado Republican Federal Campaign Comm. v. FEC, 518 U.S. 604 

(1996).............................................................................................................29 

Comm. on Jobs Candidate Advocacy Fund v. Herrera, 2007 WL 2790351 

(N.D. Cal. 2007) ............................................................................................33 

Davis v. FEC, 128 S. Ct. 2759 (2008) ...............................................................22, 23 

Davis v. Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp., 571 F.3d 1288 (D.C. Cir. 2009)...........16 

Dunagin v. City of Oxford, Miss., 718 F.2d 738 (5th Cir. 1983)..............................34 

Elrod v. Burns, 427 U.S. 347 (1976) .................................................................57, 58 

EMILY’s List v. FEC, No. 08-5422, 2009 WL 2972412 

(D.C. Cir. Sept. 18, 2009)........................................................................14, 17 

FEC v. Beaumont, 539 U.S. 146 (2003) ..................................................................19 

*FEC v. Colorado Republican Fed. Campaign Comm., 533 U.S. 431 (2001) .......30 

FEC v. Furgatch, 807 F.2d 857 (9th Cir. 1987) .......................................................46 

*FEC v. Mass. Citizens for Life, Inc., 479 U.S. 238 (1986)..............................27, 28 

FEC v. Nat’l Conservative Political Action Comm., 470 U.S. 480 

 (1985)................................................................................................21, 22, 29 

FEC v. Wisconsin Right to Life, Inc., 551 U.S. 449 (2007)...............................20, 24 

First National Bank of Boston v. Bellotti, 435 U.S. 765 (1978)........................22, 29 

FTC v. Standard Oil Co. of Cal., 449 U.S. 232 (1980) ...........................................59 

Gonzales v. O Centro Espirita Beneficente Uniao do Vegetal, 

546 U.S. 418 (2006).................................................................................18, 19

Lee v. Christian Coalition of America, Inc., 160 F. Supp. 2d 14 (D.D.C. 2001)....55 

v

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M&G Elecs. Sales Corp. v. Sony Kabushiki Kaisha, 250 F.Supp. 2d 91 

(E.D.N.Y. 2003).............................................................................................55 

Mazurek v. Armstrong, 520 U.S. 968 (1997) (per curiam)......................................15 

*McConnell v. FEC, 540 U.S. 93 

(2003).............. 9, 10, 11, 19, 20, 22, 24, 29, 30, 31, 32, 34, 40, 42, 43, 48, 49 

*McConnell v. FEC, 251 F. Supp. 2d 176 (D.D.C. 

2003) ................................................................... 25, 29, 30, 34, 35, 39, 40, 43 

Mills v. District of Columbia, 571 F.3d 1304 (D.C. Cir. 2009)...............................58 

*Mott v. FEC, 494 F. Supp. 131 (D.D.C. 1980)......................................................26 

Muller v. Oregon, 208 U.S. 412 (1908)...................................................................34 

N.C. Right to Life, Inc. v. Leake, 525 F.3d 274 (4th Cir. 2008) ...............................33 

New Motor Vehicle Bd. of Calif. v. Orrin W. Fox Co., 434 U.S. 1345 

(1977).............................................................................................................62 

Nixon v. Shrink Missouri Gov’t PAC, 528 U.S. 377 (2000)....................................19 

NTEU v. United States, 927 F.2d 1253 (D.C. Cir. 1991) ..................................50, 58 

Perot v. FEC, 97 F.3d 553 (D.C. Cir. 1996)............................................................60 

Quince Orchard Valley Citizens Ass’n v. Hodel, 872 F.2d 75 (4th Cir. 1989) ........55 

Renegotiation Board v. Bannercraft Clothing Co., 415 U.S. 1 (1974) ...................60 

Salt Lake Tribune Pub. Co., LLC v. AT & T Corp., 320 F.3d 1081 

(10th Cir. 2003)...............................................................................................55 

Sears Roebuck & Co. v. NLRB, 473 F.2d 91 (D.C. Cir. 1972)................................60 

Second City Music, Inc. v. City of Chicago, Ill., 333 F.3d 846 (7th Cir. 2003) .......54 

Serono Labs., Inc. v. Shalala, 158 F.3d 1313 (D.C. Cir. 1998) ..............................16 

The Real Truth About Obama, Inc. v. FEC, 575 F.3d 342 (4th Cir. 2009) ........16, 18 

vi

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Turner Broad. System, Inc. v. FCC, 507 U.S. 1301 (1993)...............................17, 61 

Univ. of Tex. v. Camenisch, 451 U.S. 390 (1981) ...................................................17 

Wagner v. Taylor, 836 F.2d 566 (D.C. Cir. 1987).......................................16, 50, 58 

Walters v. Nat’l. Assn. of Radiation Survivors, 468 U.S. 1323 (1984) ...................61 

Winter v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc., 129 S. Ct. 365 

(2008)...........................................................................................16, 18, 19, 60 

Wisconsin v. Chvala, No. 02-CF002451 (Dane Cty. Cir. Ct., filed Oct. 17, 

2002)..............................................................................................................41 

Wisconsin Gas Co. v. FERC, 758 F.2d 669 (D.C. Cir. 1985) ...........................51, 59 

Statutes and Regulations 

Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act, Pub. L. No. 107-155, 

116 Stat. 81 (2002) ........................................................................................32 

Federal Election Campaign Act, 2 U.S.C. §§ 431-455..............................................2 

Federal Election Campaign Act Amendments of 1971, Pub. L. No. 92-225, 

§§ 301-306, 86 Stat. 3 (Feb. 7, 1972)............................................................61 

Federal Election Campaign Act Amendments of 1974, Pub. L. No. 93-443, 

§ 101, 88 Stat. 1263 (Oct. 15, 1974) .............................................................61 

Federal Election Campaign Act Amendments of 1976, Pub. L. No. 94-283, 

Title I, § 112(2), 90 Stat. 475 (May 11, 1976) ..............................................61 

2 U.S.C. § 431(4) .....................................................................................................61 

2 U.S.C. § 431(4)(A)..................................................................................................6 

2 U.S.C. § 431(8)(A)(i)..............................................................................................5 

2 U.S.C. § 431(9)(A)(i)..............................................................................................5 

2 U.S.C. § 431(11) .....................................................................................................7 

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2 U.S.C. § 431(17) .....................................................................................................7 

2 U.S.C. § 433............................................................................................................6 

2 U.S.C. § 434............................................................................................................6 

2 U.S.C. § 434(c) .................................................................................................7, 28 

2 U.S.C. § 434(c)(2)(A) .............................................................................................7 

2 U.S.C. § 434(c)(2)(B) .............................................................................................7 

2 U.S.C. § 434(c)(2)(C) .............................................................................................7 

2 U.S.C. § 434(g) .......................................................................................................8 

2 U.S.C. § 437c(b)(1).................................................................................................2

2 U.S.C. § 437c(c)......................................................................................................5 

2 U.S.C. § 437d(a)(7).............................................................................................2, 5 

2 U.S.C. § 437d(a)(8).................................................................................................2 

2 U.S.C. § 437f.......................................................................................................2, 3 

2 U.S.C. § 437g(a)(4)...............................................................................................60 

2 U.S.C. § 437g(a)(5)...............................................................................................60 

2 U.S.C. § 437g(a)(6)...............................................................................................60 

2 U.S.C. § 437h....................................................................................................1, 26 

2 U.S.C. § 438(a)(8)...................................................................................................2 

2 U.S.C. § 438(d) .......................................................................................................2 

2 U.S.C. § 441a(a)(1)(A) ...........................................................................................7 

2 U.S.C. § 441a(a)(1)(B)............................................................................................7 

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2 U.S.C. § 441a(a)(1)(C)............................................................................7, 8, 19, 26 

2 U.S.C. § 441a(a)(1)(D) ...........................................................................................7 

2 U.S.C. § 441a(a)(3)...........................................................................................8, 12 

2 U.S.C. § 441a(a)(3)(B)..........................................................................................61 

2 U.S.C § 441d(a) ......................................................................................................8 

2 U.S.C § 441d(a)(3)..................................................................................................8 

2 U.S.C. § 441d(d)(2).................................................................................................8 

28 U.S.C. § 1292(a)(1)...............................................................................................1 

28 U.S.C. § 1331........................................................................................................1 

11 C.F.R. § 109.21 .....................................................................................................3 

11 C.F.R. § 110.11(a)(1)............................................................................................6 

Miscellaneous 

U.S. const. amend. I .................................................................. 12, 14, 17, 50, 57, 58 

Fed. R. Civ. P. 52(a).................................................................................................16 

Fed. R. Evid. 201(a).................................................................................................34 

Rick Alm and Jim Sullinger, Congressman Calls Lobbyist’s Tactics Illegal — 

Lobbyist Argued Monday Over Whether Papers Faxed to the 

Congressman’s Office Last Month Were A Veiled Attempt to Buy His 

Vote, Kan. City Star, Oct. 6, 1998 .................................................................41 

Terry S. Beckett, A Consultant’s View on How Issue Ads Shaped a 

Congressional Election..................................................................................35 

Jeffrey M. Berry and Clyde Wilcox, The Interest Group Society (5th ed. 2009).....53 

Jack Cashill, More of the Same Old Stuff, Ingrams Magazine, November 1999 ....41 

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Ctr. for the Study of Elections and Democracy, 527s Had a Substantial Impact 

on the Ground and Air Wars in 2004, Will Return /Swift Boat Veterans 

527 Played Historic Role (Dec. 16, 2004) ....................................................37 

Jon Coupal, Burning Through Taxpayer Dollars, Howard Jarvis Taxpayers 

Ass’n: California Commentary, Vol. 2, Issue XIII, March 29, 2004.) ...43, 44 

Susan Crabtree, New 527 Group Takes Aim At Campaign Contribution Limits, 

The Hill, Dec. 3, 2007 .....................................................................................3 

Kenneth C. Davis, Administrative Law Text § 7.03 (3d ed. 1972)..........................34 

Richard N. Engstrom and Christopher Kenny, The Effects of Independent 

Expenditures in Senate Elections, Pol. Research Quarterly 55 (4):885-905 

(2002).............................................................................................................35 

Edward B. Foley, The “Major Purpose” Test: Distinguishing Between 

Election-Focused and Issue-Focused Groups, 31 N. Ky. L. Rev. 341 

(2004).............................................................................................................45 

FPPC, Independent Expenditures: The Giant Gorilla in Campaign Finance, 

June 2008, available at http://www.fppc.ca.gov/ie/IEReport2.pdf ...............40 

John Fund, Energy Independent: Maverick Oilman Boone Pickens Talks About 

Fuel Prices And His Love For Philanthropy, Wall Street J., 

June 2, 2007 ...................................................................................................38 

Robert W. Hickmott, Large Contributions Given to Influence Legislation, in

Inside the Campaign Finance Battle 302-04 (2003) .....................................39 

Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, About Us, available at 

http://www.hjta.org/aboutus....................................................................44, 53 

Institute for Politics, Democracy & the Internet, The George Washington 

University Graduate School of Political Management, Small Donors and 

Online Giving 20 (2006) (www.IPDI.org) ....................................................53 

Gary C. Jacobson, The Effect of the AFL-CIO’s “Voter Education” Campaigns 

on the 1996 House Elections, 61 J. Pol. (1): 185-94.....................................35 

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Michael Janofsky, Advocacy Groups Spent Record Amount of 2004 Election, 

N.Y. Times, Dec. 17, 2004 ............................................................................36 

Glen Justice, Advocacy Groups Reflect on Their Role in the Election, N.Y. 

Times, Nov. 5, 2005 ......................................................................................38 

On Message, Los Angeles Times (Feb. 15, 2008)...................................................52 

Frank Luntz, Why Bush Won the Credibility Factor, Wash. Times, Nov. 5, 

2004 ...............................................................................................................36 

David B. Magleby, Conclusions and Implications for Future Research, in The 

Other Campaign: Soft Money and Issue Advocacy in the 2000 

Congressional Elections (David Magleby, ed. 2003) ...................................36 

Jane Mayer, The Money Man: Can George Soros’s Millions Insure the Defeat 

of President Bush, New Yorker, Oct. 18, 2004.............................................38 

John McCain, Congress is Mired in Corrupt Soft Money, in Inside the 

Campaign Finance Battle 325 (A. Corrado et al., eds., 2003)......................41 

Rocky Pennington, A Practitioner Looks at How Issue Groups Select and 

Target Federal Candidates, in Inside the Campaign Finance Battle 251 

(A. Corrado et al., eds., 2003) .......................................................................34 

Jim Rutenberg, Democrat’s Ads in Tandem Provoke G.O.P., N.Y. Times, Mar. 

27, 2004 .........................................................................................................37 

Larry J. Sabato, PACs and Parties, in Annelise Anderson, ed., Political Money

77 (2000), available at http://www.campaignfinancesite.org book/html/ 

contents.html..................................................................................................47 

Steve Schultze and Richard P. Jones, Chvala Charged With Extortion, 

Milwaukee J. Sentinel, Oct. 18, 2002............................................................41 

Frank J. Sorauf, Who’s in Charge? Accountability in Political Action 

Committees, 99 Pol. Science Q. 591, 595 (1984-85) ....................................47

Suit Aims To Ease Campaign Funding Limit, The Washington Times (Feb. 15, 

2008)..............................................................................................................52 

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xii

Suit Could Unleash Surge Of Money In 2008 Presidential Race, The New York 

Sun (Feb. 15, 2008) .......................................................................................52 

Kathleen M. Sullivan & Gerald Gunther, Constitutional Law 1081 (16th ed. 

2007)..............................................................................................................44 

Unfettered Speech, Now, Washington Post (Feb 16, 2008).....................................52 

Kenneth T. Walsh, Political Ads: Good, Bad, and Ugly, U.S. News & 

World Rept., Jan. 28, 2008 ............................................................................36 

Steven Walters and Patrick Marley, Chvala Reaches Plea Deal, Milwaukee J. 

Sentinel, Oct. 24, 2005 ..................................................................................41 

Stephen R. Weissman & Ruth Hassan, 527 Groups and BCRA, in The Election 

After Reform, Money Politics and the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act 

(Michael J. Malbin ed. 2006)...................................................................10, 38 

Jules Witcover: Interview with Paul Manafort, The Buying of the President, 

Center for Public Integrity, Mar. 20, 2007, available at 

http://www.buyingofthepresident.org/index.php/interviews/

paul_manafort ................................................................................................37 

11A Charles Alan Wright, Arthur R. Miller, & Mary Kay Kane Fed. Prac. & 

Proc. Civ.2d § 2948.1 ..............................................................................................55 

Senate Committee on Rules and Administration, Hearing to Examine and 

Discuss S.271, a Bill Which Reforms the Regulatory and Reporting 

Structure of Organizations Registered Under Section 527 of the Internal 

Revenue Code, 109th Cong. (Mar. 8, 2005), available at 

http://rules.senate.gov/hearings/2005/Malbin Testimony.pdf.......................45

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COUNTERSTATEMENT OF JURISDICTION 

 The district court had jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1331 over the motion 

for a preliminary injunction by SpeechNow.org (“SpeechNow”) and five 

individuals. A special provision, 2 U.S.C. § 437h, granted the district court 

jurisdiction over the individual plaintiffs’ underlying constitutional challenges. 

This Court has jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1292(a)(1) to review the district 

court’s denial of injunctive relief. 

COUNTERSTATEMENT OF ISSUE PRESENTED 

Whether the district court abused its discretion in refusing to preliminarily 

enjoin the Commission from enforcing against appellants longstanding statutory 

contribution limits on the amounts an individual may contribute to political 

committees. 

STATUTES AND REGULATIONS 

 Relevant statutory and regulatory provisions are set out in an addendum to 

this brief. 

COUNTERSTATEMENT OF THE FACTS 

I. BACKGROUND 

 A. The Parties 

 The Federal Election Commission (“Commission” or “FEC”) is the 

independent agency of the United States with exclusive jurisdiction over the 

1 

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administration, interpretation, and civil enforcement of the Federal Election 

Campaign Act, 2 U.S.C. §§ 431-455 (“Act” or “FECA”), and other statutes. The 

Commission is empowered to “formulate policy” with respect to the Act, 2 U.S.C. 

§ 437c(b)(1); “to make, amend, and repeal such rules . . . as are necessary to carry 

out the provisions of [the] Act,” 2 U.S.C. §§ 437d(a)(8), 438(a)(8),(d); and to issue 

written advisory opinions, 2 U.S.C. §§ 437d(a)(7), 437f. 

 SpeechNow is an unincorporated nonprofit association organized under the 

District of Columbia Uniform Unincorporated Nonprofit Associations Act, D.C. 

Code § 29-971.01, and section 527 of the Internal Revenue Code. (J.A. 17, 

75-76.)1

 David Keating is the founder and a “member” of SpeechNow and serves 

as its president and treasurer. (J.A. 17 ¶ 8.) He is also the executive director of 

Club for Growth (J.A. 58-59 ¶ 27), an advocacy group with a well-financed 

affiliated political committee. See http://www.clubforgrowth.org/keating.php 

(visited Mar. 1, 2008). Edward H. Crane III is a “member” of SpeechNow and 

also the founder and longtime president of the Cato Institute, a nonprofit advocacy 

group. (J.A. 102 ¶ 2; J.A. 104 ¶ 8.) Fred M. Young, Jr., Brad Russo, and Scott 

Burkhardt, as well as Keating and Crane, are prospective donors to SpeechNow. 

(J.A. 17-19 ¶¶ 8-12.) 

 

1

 “J.A. __” references are to the Joint Appendix filed with appellants’ brief. 

2 

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 SpeechNow’s stated purpose is to “expressly advocate[e] the election of 

candidates who favor free speech and the defeat of candidates who favor free 

speech restrictions in the name of campaign finance reform.” (J.A. 17 ¶ 7; see also

J.A. 19 ¶ 14.) The organization was also formed in part to create a test case for 

challenging certain provisions of FECA. Susan Crabtree, New 527 Group Takes 

Aim At Campaign Contribution Limits, The Hill, Dec. 3, 2007. It seeks to accept 

contributions from individuals in unlimited amounts to pay for its candidate 

advocacy and administrative costs. (J.A. 20 ¶ 17; J.A. 32 ¶ 82.) 

 The bylaws of SpeechNow state that it will not coordinate its expenditures 

with candidates or political parties. (J.A. 84 § 4 (citing 11 C.F.R. § 109.21).) The 

bylaws also provide that the organization will not accept any donations from 

candidates, political parties, political committees, corporations, labor 

organizations, national banks, federal government contractors, or foreign nationals. 

(J.A. 83 § 9.) SpeechNow will not make contributions to candidates and other 

political committees. (J.A. 83 § 10.) 

 SpeechNow alleged that it will expressly advocate the election or defeat of 

candidates through advertisements on television and other media in the current 

election cycle and in future election cycles. (J.A. 21 ¶ 20.) The record includes 

four video and audio political advertisement scripts (J.A. 110-14) that SpeechNow 

allegedly intended to use during the last election cycle at a cost of more than 

3 

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$120,000. (J.A. 21-22 ¶¶ 21-25; see also J.A. 108.) SpeechNow plans to comply 

with FECA’s disclaimer and reporting requirements for independent expenditures 

made by groups other than political committees, but does not wish to comply with 

the full disclosure requirements applicable to political committees. (J.A. 23 

¶¶ 28-30; J.A. 25 ¶ 46.) 

SpeechNow has five “members” (J.A. 79, 88) to whom its bylaws give 

control over its “property, affairs, and business” (J.A. 79). The bylaws state that 

“[n]o person may become a Member by virtue of providing financial or other 

support” to the organization. (J.A. 78.) Only members may fill, by majority vote, 

any member vacancy or expand the number of members. (Id.) The bylaws do not 

require SpeechNow’s members, in exercising their powers, to consult with 

nonmember contributors.2

 

The bylaws also provide for the members to delegate their powers to 

SpeechNow’s officers. (J.A. 79.) In practice, appellant Keating runs the 

organization on a day-to-day basis and makes virtually all the decisions. (See, e.g.,

J.A. 51 ¶ 4; J.A. 59 ¶ 27.) 

 

2

 Of the five individual plaintiffs in this litigation, only Keating and Crane are 

“members” of SpeechNow. (J.A. 18 ¶ 9, J.A. 88.) The other three are allegedly 

would-be contributors. (J.A. 18-19.) 

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B. SpeechNow’s Advisory Opinion Request 

 In November 2007, SpeechNow requested the Commission to issue an 

advisory opinion, see 2 U.S.C. § 437f, discussing whether the Act requires the 

organization to register as a political committee and to treat the donations it 

receives as “contributions.” See J.A. 27 ¶ 52; http://saos.nictusa.com/saos/ 

searchao?SUBMIT=ao&AO=2267. The Commission could not issue the requested 

opinion, however, because an advisory opinion requires the affirmative vote of at 

least four Commission members and the Commission then had only two members. 

See 2 U.S.C. §§ 437c(c), 437d(a)(7); J.A. 146. 

 C. Statutory and Regulatory Background 

 1. Contributions and Expenditures 

 The Act defines “contribution” to include “any gift, subscription, loan, 

advance or deposit of money or anything of value made by any person for the 

purpose of influencing any election for Federal office.” 2 U.S.C. § 431(8)(A)(i). 

“Expenditure” is defined to include “any purchase, payment, distribution, loan, 

advance, deposit, or gift of money or anything of value, made by any person for 

the purpose of influencing any election for Federal office.” 2 U.S.C. 

§ 431(9)(A)(i). 

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 2. Political Committees 

 The Act defines “political committee” as “any committee, club, association, 

or other group of persons which receives contributions aggregating in excess of 

$1,000 during a calendar year or which makes expenditures aggregating in excess 

of $1,000 during a calendar year.” 2 U.S.C. § 431(4)(A). Any organization that 

qualifies as a political committee must register with the Commission and file 

periodic reports for disclosure to the public of all receipts and disbursements to or 

from a person in excess of $200 in a calendar year (and in some instances, of any 

amount). See 2 U.S.C. §§ 433-34. Political committees must also identify 

themselves through “disclaimers” on all of their general public political 

advertising, on their websites, and in mass emails. 11 C.F.R. § 110.11(a)(1).

 In Buckley v. Valeo, 424 U.S. 1, 79 (1976), the Supreme Court found that the 

phrase “for the purpose of . . . influencing” used in defining “contribution” and 

“expenditure” and thus in defining “political committee” had “vagueness 

problems”; the phrase had the potential to encompass “both issue discussion and 

advocacy of a political result.” The Court therefore narrowly construed “political 

committee”: A group will not be deemed a “political committee” under the Act 

unless, in addition to crossing the $1,000 statutory threshold of contributions or 

expenditures, the organization is “under the control of a candidate” or its “major 

purpose ... is the nomination or election of a candidate.” Id. 

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 3. Contribution Limits 

 In addition to limiting the amount a person may contribute to a candidate, a 

candidate’s authorized committee, or a political party committee, FECA limits the 

amount that a person may contribute to “any other political committee.” 2 U.S.C. 

§ 441a(a)(1)(A)-(D). Persons, including individuals, may not contribute more than 

$5,000 per calendar year to such “other” political committees. See 2 U.S.C. 

§§ 431(11), 441a(a)(1)(C). 

 4. Independent Expenditures 

 The Act defines “independent expenditure” as an expenditure by a person 

“expressly advocating the election or defeat of a clearly identified candidate” and 

“that is not made in concert or cooperation with or at the request or suggestion of 

such candidate, the candidate’s authorized political committee, or their agents, or a 

political party committee or its agents.” 2 U.S.C. § 431(17). 

 Persons who are not a political committee are not required to file reports of 

all their receipts and disbursements. Generally, they are only required to file 

reports for each quarter of the year in which they have made independent 

expenditures aggregating in excess of $250 during a calendar year. 2 U.S.C. 

§ 434(c). Each quarterly report contains information regarding the independent 

expenditure and each person who made a contribution in excess of $200 “for the 

purpose of furthering an independent expenditure.” 2 U.S.C. § 434(c)(2)(A)-(C). 

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All persons, including political committees, who make independent expenditures 

shortly before election day that exceed certain thresholds must disclose 

information about the expenditures to the Commission within 24 or 48 hours. 

2 U.S.C. § 434(g). 

 Every person, including a political committee, that makes independent 

expenditure communications through certain media must include in each 

communication a disclaimer providing information about who paid for the 

communication. See 2 U.S.C § 441d(a). The disclaimer must provide the name 

and contact information for the maker of the independent expenditure, and state 

whether the communication is authorized by any candidate or candidate’s 

authorized committee. 2 U.S.C § 441d(a)(3). Radio or television independent 

expenditures must contain an additional oral and visual disclaimer stating that the 

person paying for the communication “is responsible for the content of this 

advertising.” 2 U.S.C. § 441d(d)(2). 

II. COURT PROCEEDINGS 

On February 14, 2008, SpeechNow filed both its initial complaint and a 

motion for a preliminary injunction to prevent the Commission from enforcing the 

individual contribution limits in 2 U.S.C. §§ 441a(a)(1)(C) and 441a(a)(3). On 

July 1, 2008, after a hearing, the district court denied the motion. (J.A. 8, Entry 32; 

J.A. 372-399.) 

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First, the court rejected SpeechNow’s argument that strict scrutiny applies to 

the challenged contribution limits. (J.A. 384-388.) Relying on Buckley and its 

progeny, the district court explained that strict scrutiny applies to expenditure 

limits and intermediate scrutiny to contribution limits. (J.A. 384-86.) Like the 

contributors discussed in Buckley, “contributors to SpeechNow are not, through 

their donations, engaging in direct speech”; rather, “SpeechNow, as a legally 

separate organization, is speaking as their proxy.” (J.A. 385-86.) The district 

court further explained that the Supreme Court has “repeatedly rejected” the 

argument that strict scrutiny applies because the Act’s individual contribution limit 

to political committees supposedly functions as a limit on expenditures. (J.A. 386, 

citing McConnell v. FEC, 540 U.S. 93, 139 (2003).) 

Second, the court held that SpeechNow failed to demonstrate a likelihood of 

success in claiming that FECA’s annual $5,000 contribution limit is 

unconstitutional as applied to committees that make only independent 

expenditures. The limit “is closely drawn to match the government interests in 

preventing corruption and the circumvention of the Act’s disclaimer 

requirements.” (J.A. 397.) 

SpeechNow relied, the court stated, on a narrow view of corruption that is 

“at odds with Supreme Court precedent,” including McConnell. (J.A. 388.) The 

Supreme Court “has never held that, by definition, independent expenditures pose 

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no threat of corruption.” (Id.) The court noted that “‘[i]ndependence’ does not 

prevent candidates, officeholders, and party apparatchiks from being made aware 

of the identities of large donors.” (J.A. 390-91.) Indeed, “people who operate 

independent expenditure committees can have the kind of ‘close ties’ to federal 

parties and officeholders that render them ‘uniquely positioned to serve as conduits 

for corruption.’” (J.A. 391, quoting McConnell, 540 U.S. at 156 n.51.) The court 

explained that the history of section 527 groups in the 2004 presidential election 

and a study of those groups support this proposition.3

 (J.A. 391-93; see also J.A. 

379-82.) 

Citing California Medical Ass’n v. FEC, 453 U.S. 182 (1981) (“CalMed”), 

and McConnell, the district court also concluded that Congress has the power to 

regulate committees that make independent expenditures. In arguing to the 

contrary, SpeechNow relied on the solo concurrence in CalMed by Justice 

Blackmun. In agreeing to uphold FECA’s $5,000 contribution limit to 

multicandidate political committees, Justice Blackmun indicated he would not 

have concurred if the committee there had made only independent expenditures. 

453 U.S. at 203. But Justice Blackmun’s remarks on this point, the district court 

 

3

 Stephen R. Weissman & Ruth Hassan, 527 Groups and BCRA, in The 

Election After Reform, Money Politics and the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act 

(Michael J. Malbin ed. 2006) (“Weissman & Hassan”). For the Court’s 

convenience, the Commission has included this study at Addendum 5-38. 

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explained, dealt with a “hypothetical situation” and were “neither controlling nor 

precedential.” (J.A. 394.) “More importantly, a majority of the Supreme Court in 

McConnell rejected Justice Blackmun’s reasoning.” (J.A. 394-95, citing 

McConnell, 540 U.S. at 152 n.48.) 

The district court further found that the $5,000 contribution limit also 

“promotes the important government interests underlying the Act’s disclaimer 

requirements.” (J.A. 396.) It “functions to prevent a handful of wealthy donors 

from hiding behind ‘dubious and misleading names.’” (J.A. 396, quoting 

McConnell, 540 U.S. at 197.) 

The limit is “a proportional response,” the court concluded, “to the 

government interests at stake.” (J.A. 397.) A $5,000 annual contribution is 

“substantial,” the Act places no ceiling on the total amount of funds that groups 

like SpeechNow can amass and spend, and it does not limit the number of persons 

from whom funds can be solicited. (Id.) 

Third, the district court found that SpeechNow failed to show irreparable 

harm. “Even with these contribution caps in place, the individual plaintiffs retain 

the ability to associate with and contribute to SpeechNow — each must simply 

limit his contribution to $5000 per year.” (J.A. 398.) The equitable balance of 

hardships further favored the government, the district court stated, because the 

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Supreme Court has held that every Act of Congress is presumed to be 

constitutional. (J.A. 398-99.) 

Finally, the court concluded that SpeechNow also failed to demonstrate a 

likelihood of success in challenging the Act’s biennial aggregate limits, 2 U.S.C. 

§ 441a(a)(3). (J.A. 398.) 

On July 23, 2008, SpeechNow filed a notice of appeal of the district court’s 

denial of a preliminary injunction. (J.A. 9, Entry 38). On November 7, 2008, 

however, after this Court had issued scheduling orders in the injunction appeal and 

the parties had filed preliminary documents (D.C. Cir. Docket, No. 08-5223), 

SpeechNow moved to hold the appeal in abeyance. (Id.) More than seven months 

later, on June 23, 2009, SpeechNow revived its preliminary injunction appeal and, 

on July 15, 2009, successfully moved to expedite the appeal. (Id.) 

SUMMARY OF ARGUMENT 

 SpeechNow and individual appellants seek to preliminarily enjoin the 

Commission from enforcing against them FECA’s longstanding annual and 

biennial limits on the amounts an individual may contribute to political 

committees. The individual plaintiffs alleged in their underlying suit that those 

provisions violate their First Amendment right to contribute unlimited funds to an 

organization like SpeechNow that plans to make only independent expenditures. 

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 The district court did not abuse its discretion in denying the requested 

injunction. Appellants failed to carry their heavy burden to justify the status quoaltering injunction. Since Buckley v. Valeo, 424 U.S. 1 (1976), the Supreme Court 

has distinguished between expenditure limits and contribution limits, and has 

consistently subjected the latter to lesser scrutiny. 

 1. Supreme Court precedent supports the constitutionality of the 

contribution limits, which as marginal restrictions on speech are reviewed under 

intermediate scrutiny. The Court has repeatedly rejected the view that only 

expenditures made in coordination with candidates pose a risk of corruption. Realworld evidence about political fundraising confirms that unlimited contributions to 

groups for independent spending raise the danger of corruption and its appearance. 

A victory for appellants would undermine FECA’s anti-corruption purpose and 

have far-reaching consequences. 

 Unlimited contributions to SpeechNow and similar organizations would also 

undercut FECA’s disclaimer requirements. The public would be denied 

contemporaneous information about those large donors. 

 Finally, FECA’s biennial aggregate contribution limits are constitutional. 

Buckley upheld those limits, which help prevent circumvention of other 

contribution limits. 

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 The Commission recognizes that the reasoning in EMILY’s List v. FEC,

No. 08-5422, 2009 WL 2972412 (D.C. Cir. Sept. 18, 2009), appears to resolve the 

likelihood of success issue against the Commission and that the panel in the instant 

litigation is currently bound by that decision. To preserve the issue for possible 

further judicial review by this Court sitting en banc or the Supreme Court, 

however, the Commission argues here that appellants failed to carry their burden to 

establish that the Commission is unlikely to succeed in defending the contribution 

limits at the merits stage. 

2. To demonstrate a likelihood of irreparable harm, a movant must do 

more than merely allege the violation of First Amendment rights. But that is all 

appellants have done here; their alleged injuries are neither actual nor certain and, 

if they exist, are largely self-inflicted. Instead of making SpeechNow truly 

operational and raising the funds for its express advocacy communications within 

the statutory limits — by using the individual plaintiffs’ own contributions and by 

appealing to additional donors — appellants chose to test first the constitutionality 

of those limits. Their claim of imminent harm is also undercut by their delay in 

pursuing their preliminary injunction appeal. And they failed to show that they 

face an imminent or irreparable injury from the possibility of a Commission 

enforcement proceeding.

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3. Finally, appellants failed to establish that the injunction would further 

the public interest and would not harm the Commission. Both the public and the 

Commission have a strong interest in enforcing the campaign finance laws, thereby 

preventing corruption and the appearance of corruption. Temporarily lifting the 

contribution limits during the 2010 election cycle, even for SpeechNow, would 

undermine the public’s confidence in the integrity of the campaign financing 

system. This harm could not be undone. 

ARGUMENT 

THE DISTRICT COURT DID NOT ABUSE ITS DISCRETION IN 

DENYING SPEECHNOW’S PRELIMINARY INJUNCTION MOTION 

I. STANDARD OF REVIEW AND A MOVANT’S BURDEN IN 

SEEKING A PRELIMINARY INJUNCTION 

 A preliminary injunction is “an extraordinary and drastic remedy” that may 

only be awarded upon “a clear showing” that the plaintiff is entitled to the relief. 

Mazurek v. Armstrong, 520 U.S. 968, 972 (1997) (per curiam); (internal quotation 

marks and citation omitted) accord, e.g., Cobell v. Norton, 391 F.3d 251, 258 

(D.C. Cir. 2004) (movant “carries the burden of persuasion” and must make a 

“clear showing”). To prevail, a movant “must establish” (1) “that he is likely to 

succeed on the merits,” (2) “that he is likely to suffer irreparable harm in the 

absence of preliminary relief,” (3) “that the balance of equities tips in his favor,” 

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and (4) “that an injunction is in the public interest.” Winter v. Natural Resources 

Defense Council, Inc., 129 S. Ct. 365, 374 (2008).4

 This Court reviews the district court’s factual determinations “under the 

clearly erroneous standard” and reviews questions of law “essentially de novo.” 

See Fed. R. Civ. P. 52(a) (“clearly erroneous”); Serono Labs., Inc. v. Shalala, 

158 F.3d 1313, 1318 (D.C. Cir. 1998). “[U]nless [an] appellant carries the heavy 

burden of demonstrating an abuse of discretion” in the district court’s denying an 

injunction, “the [court’s] order must be affirmed.” Wagner v. Taylor, 836 F.2d 

566, 576 (D.C. Cir. 1987) (internal quotation marks and citation omitted). 

II. SPEECHNOW FAILED TO CARRY ITS BURDEN FOR A 

PRELIMINARY INJUNCTION 

SpeechNow’s motion seeks to alter the longtime status quo by enjoining the 

Commission from enforcing the Act’s decades-old contribution limits so that 

individuals can make unlimited contributions to SpeechNow. “The purpose of a 

preliminary injunction,” however, “is merely to preserve the relative positions of 

 

4

 This Circuit’s “sliding-scale” approach — which permits an injunction 

despite weak showings in some areas if the showing in one area is particularly 

strong — thus appears to be “‘no longer controlling.’” Davis v. Pension Benefit 

Guaranty Corp., 571 F.3d 1288, 1296 (D.C. Cir. 2009) (Kavanaugh, J. concurring, 

joined by Henderson, J.) (quoting Am. Trucking Ass’ns v. City of Los Angeles,

559 F.3d 1046, 1052 (9th Cir. 2009)). See The Real Truth About Obama, Inc. v. 

FEC, 575 F.3d 342, 347 (4th Cir. 2009) (Winter requires modifying sliding-scale 

preliminary injunction standard); Am. Trucking Ass’ns, 559 F.3d at 1052 (same). 

But see Davis, 571 F.3d at 1292 (declining to decide question in part because 

Winter “does not squarely discuss whether the four factors are to be balanced on a 

sliding scale”). 

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the parties until a trial on the merits can be held.” Univ. of Tex. v. Camenisch,

451 U.S. 390, 395 (1981). See also, e.g., Turner Broad. System, Inc. v. FCC,

507 U.S. 1301 (1993) (Rehnquist, C.J., in chambers) (refusing to enjoin 

enforcement of a federal statute, despite First Amendment claim: “By seeking an 

injunction, applicants request that I issue an order altering the legal status quo”) 

(emphasis in original)). 

 Here, the district court did not abuse its discretion in denying the motion 

because appellants failed to meet their heavy burden. 

 A. SpeechNow Failed to Demonstrate a Likelihood of Success on 

the Merits 

The Commission recognizes that panels in this Circuit are bound by 

EMILY’s List v. FEC, No. 08-5422, 2009 WL 2972412 (D.C. Cir. Sept. 18, 2009), 

unless this Circuit sitting en banc or the Supreme Court stays or overrules the 

decision. The reasoning in that opinion that contributions to nonprofit, 

nonconnected political committees cannot be limited to the extent those funds will 

be spent on independent expenditures appears to resolve the central legal issue 

bearing on appellants’ likelihood of success on the merits in their favor. To 

preserve this issue for possible further judicial review, however, we explain below 

why the contribution limits are constitutional as applied to SpeechNow and its 

prospective donors. 

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Despite the well-established requirement that a preliminary injunction 

movant demonstrate a likelihood of success on the merits, see supra p.18, 

appellants assert (Br. 25) that the Commission has the burden of showing that they 

do not have a likelihood of success on the merits. But the two cases on which they 

rely do not support that broad assertion. In Ashcroft v. ACLU, 542 U.S. 656, 665 

(2004), the Court stated that “[w]hen plaintiffs challenge a content-based speech 

restriction, the burden is on the Government to prove that the proposed alternatives 

will not be as effective as the challenged statute.” In the second case, Gonzales v. 

O Centro Espirita Beneficente Uniao do Vegetal, 546 U.S. 418 (2006), the Court 

interpreted Ashcroft as implicitly resting on the view that “the burdens at the 

preliminary injunction stage track the burdens at trial.” Id. at 429. (Gonzales

actually concerned a statute that explicitly placed the burden on the government. 

Id. at 428. ) 

As explained infra pp. 19-23, in defending a contribution limit at the merits 

stage, the Commission must show that the limit satisfies the “lesser demand” of 

being “closely drawn” to match a “sufficiently important interest.” But the 

Commission’s burden does not relieve SpeechNow from having to meet a 

movant’s burden of likely success on the merits. In Winter, decided after 

Gonzales, the Supreme Court “articulated clearly what must be shown to obtain a 

preliminary injunction,” Real Truth, 575 F.3d at 346, and Winter unequivocally 

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reaffirms the traditional view that a movant “must establish that he is likely to 

succeed on the merits.” Winter, 129 S. Ct. at 374. 

 To reconcile Winter, Ashcroft, and Gonzales, a movant must show a 

sufficient likelihood that the government will ultimately fail to prove a challenged 

provision is constitutional. Cf. Byrum v. Landreth, 566 F.3d 442, 446 (5th Cir. 

2009) (reconciling the traditional view with government’s burden in restricting 

commercial speech). 

1. The Act’s Limit on an Individual’s Contributions to 

Political Committees Is Constitutional as Applied 

a. Intermediate Scrutiny Applies to the Contribution Limits 

 Although appellants concede that SpeechNow will meet the criteria for 

political committee status once the organization passes the statutory $1,000 

threshold (e.g., Br. 3), they challenge, inter alia, FECA’s $5,000 limit on 

contributions that an individual may give annually to a political committee like 

SpeechNow. 2 U.S.C. § 441a(a)(1)(C). Since Buckley, 424 U.S. at 19, the 

Supreme Court has applied lesser scrutiny to contributions than the “strict 

scrutiny” applicable to restrictions on campaign expenditures. See, e.g., 

McConnell, 540 U.S. at 134-36; FEC v. Beaumont, 539 U.S. 146, 161 (2003); 

Nixon v. Shrink Missouri Gov’t PAC, 528 U.S. 377, 387-88 (2000). 

In those cases, the Court recognized that a contribution limit, unlike an 

expenditure limit, “entails only a marginal restriction upon the contributor’s ability 

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to engage in free communication.” Buckley, 424 U.S. at 20. “While contributions 

may result in political expression if spent by a candidate or an association to 

present views to the voters, the transformation of contributions into political debate 

involves speech by someone other than the contributor.” Id. at 21; accord 

McConnell, 540 U.S. at 135. As the Court explained, the “overall effect” of dollar 

limits on contributions is “merely to require candidates and political committees to 

raise funds from a greater number of persons or to compel people who would 

otherwise contribute amounts greater than the statutory limits to expend such funds 

on direct political expression.” Buckley, 424 U.S. at 21-22. Contribution limits 

leave contributors free to become members of associations and assist with their 

various efforts on behalf of candidates. The Court has therefore concluded that 

“contribution limits impose serious burdens on free speech only if they are so low 

as to ‘preven[t] candidates and political committees from amassing the resources 

necessary for effective advocacy.’” McConnell, 540 U.S. at 135 (quoting Buckley,

424 U.S. at 21). 

Despite this abundant Supreme Court authority, SpeechNow contends 

(Br. 25-32) that strict scrutiny applies here. That contention rests on SpeechNow’s 

misreading Supreme Court cases and confusing the difference between contribution 

and expenditure limits. For example, SpeechNow relies (Br. 25-26, 28) on FEC v. 

Wisconsin Right to Life, Inc., 551 U.S. 449 (2007) (“WRTL II”), but that case 

20 

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concerns a challenge to a corporate expenditure prohibition by a nonprofit 

ideological corporation that wished to use its corporate treasury funds to pay for 

“issue advocacy.” The Court accordingly applied strict scrutiny in reviewing the 

limit. 

SpeechNow similarly ignores context in citing FEC v. Nat’l Conservative 

Political Action Comm., 470 U.S. 480 (1985) (“NCPAC”), as support. (Br. 30-32.) 

In that case, the Court distinguished the limit on independent expenditures it was 

striking down from the contribution limit that it had upheld in CalMed. The Court 

explained that “nothing in the statutory provision in question [in CalMed] limit[ed] 

the amount an unincorporated association or any of its members may independently 

expend in order to advocate political views.” Id. at 494 (brackets, citation, and 

internal quotation marks omitted). Rather, the provision limited “only the amount it 

may contribute to a multicandidate political committee.” Id. at 494-95. Thus, 

“[u]nlike California Medical Ass’n., [the provision at issue in NCPAC] involve[d] 

limitations on expenditures by PACs, not on the contributions they receive . . . .” Id.

at 495. 

 SpeechNow further argues that the contribution limits “can also be 

characterized as a limit on expenditures” and thus reviewed under strict scrutiny 

because they may reduce the total funds that SpeechNow has available to spend. 

That argument, however, elides Buckley’s distinction between contributions and 

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expenditures and, beginning in Buckley itself, the Supreme Court has repeatedly 

rejected it. See 424 U.S. at 21-22.5

 The Court has made clear that contribution 

limits do not have a “dramatic adverse effect on the funding of campaigns and 

political associations.” Id. 

 SpeechNow cannot escape this conclusion by invoking Citizens Against Rent 

Control v. City of Berkeley, 454 U.S. 290 (1981), and Davis v. FEC, 128 S. Ct. 

2759 (2008). (Br. 26, 28, 29.) Citizens involved a municipal restriction on 

contributions to a ballot measure committee; it therefore differs from the many 

cases applying lesser scrutiny to contribution limitations involving candidate

elections. In First National Bank of Boston v. Bellotti, 435 U.S. 765, 790 (1978), 

the Court explained that that the “risk of corruption perceived in cases involving 

candidate elections . . . simply is not present in a popular vote on a public issue.” 

Indeed, the Court later quoted this very passage in Bellotti when it continued to 

rely on the distinction between limits involving candidate elections and those 

involving ballot measures. Citizens, 454 U.S. at 298. 

 

5

 The Supreme Court has even analyzed a prohibition on the national political 

parties’ receiving or spending nonfederal money (and on state party committees’ 

spending nonfederal money on certain federal election activity) as contribution 

limits. The Court observed that “neither provision in any way limits the total 

amount of money parties can spend.... Rather, they simply limit the source and 

individual amount of donations.” McConnell, 540 U.S. at 139 (citation omitted). 

The analysis is even simpler in this case, as the Act’s limits on contributions to 

political committees do not place any limit whatsoever on SpeechNow’s 

independent expenditures. See FEC v. Nat’l Conservative Political Action Comm. 

(“NCPAC”), 470 U.S. 480, 494 (1985). 

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 In Davis, the plaintiff facially challenged the constitutionality of the 

so-called “Millionaire’s Amendment,” which, under certain circumstances, 

“impose[d] different campaign contribution limits on candidates competing for the 

same congressional seat.” 128 S. Ct. at 2765. Because the asymmetrical 

contribution limits were triggered by how much candidates spent of their own 

money on their own campaigns, the Court analyzed the burden as equivalent to an 

expenditure limit. “While [the Millionaire’s Amendment] does not impose a cap 

on a candidate’s expenditure of personal funds, it imposes an unprecedented 

penalty on any candidate who robustly exercises” his “fundamental right” to spend 

personal funds for his own campaign speech. Id. at 2771 (internal quotation marks 

and citation omitted). The Court therefore held that the Amendment could not 

stand unless it satisfied a “compelling” governmental interest. Id. at 2773 & n.7. 

In contrast, the contribution limits challenged here treat all nonconnected political 

committees alike, and they do not penalize any political committee for engaging in 

as much independent speech as it would like. 

 In sum, SpeechNow’s contention that strict scrutiny applies here has no 

basis in law. 

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b. Supreme Court Precedent Supports the Constitutionality 

of Limitations on Contributions to Political Committees 

that Purport to Make Only Independent Expenditures 

 The Supreme Court has rejected a “crabbed view of corruption, and 

particularly of the appearance of corruption” that considers only direct 

contributions to candidates and quid pro quo arrangements. McConnell, 540 U.S. 

at 152. That view “ignores precedent, common sense, and the realities of political 

fundraising.” Id.

 As even SpeechNow admits (Br. 36), the Court has never held that 

independent expenditures “by definition” pose no risk of corruption. Rather, in 

Buckley the Court found only that the governmental interest in preventing 

corruption and its appearance was “inadequate to justify” the “ceiling on 

independent expenditures” under strict scrutiny, not that it was insufficient to 

justify contribution limits under intermediate scrutiny. 424 U.S. at 45. The Court, 

in fact, “assume[ed], arguendo that large independent expenditures pose the same 

dangers of actual or apparent quid pro quo arrangements as do large 

contributions.” Id.6

 The Court nevertheless found the interest inadequate to justify 

 

6

 As the controlling opinion in WRTL II explains, Buckley thus “suggested that 

this interest might also justify limits on electioneering expenditures because it may 

be that, in some circumstances, ‘large independent expenditures pose the same 

dangers of actual or apparent quid pro quo arrangements as do large 

contributions.’” WRTL II, 551 U.S. at 478 (citing Buckley, 424 U.S. at 45) 

(Roberts, C.J.). The less severe restriction of a contribution limit, rather than an 

expenditure limit, is at issue here. 

24 

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expenditure limits because the “independent advocacy restricted by the 

[expenditure cap] does not presently appear to pose dangers of real or apparent 

corruption comparable to those identified with large campaign contributions.” 

424 U.S. at 46 (emphases added). The Court thus made no direct holding about 

whether the interest adequately justifies the more marginal restriction of a limit on 

contributions to groups engaged exclusively in candidate advocacy. 

The reason the Court found the interest inadequate was that it then appeared 

that “independent expenditures may well provide little assistance to the candidate’s 

campaign and indeed may prove counterproductive.” Id. at 47. The Court thus 

concluded on the record before it that the lack of coordination lessens the value to 

the candidate and “alleviates the danger that expenditures will be given as a quid 

pro quo,” not that independence entirely removes any danger of corruption. Id.

(emphasis added).7

 The Court added an explicit temporal limitation to its analysis 

(“presently”) and was making empirical assumptions; the history of electoral 

politics in the past thirty-three years undermines those assumptions, as the Court 

has come to recognize. See infra pp. 34-43. 

Buckley itself upheld a $25,000 annual limitation on the total federal 

contributions an individual could make, whether those contributions were to 

 

7

 See also McConnell, 251 F. Supp. 2d 176, 624-25 (D.D.C. 2003) (KollarKotelly, J.) (“Buckley explicitly left open the possibility that a time might come 

when a record would indicate that independent expenditures made by individuals 

to support candidates would raise an appearance of corruption.”) 

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candidates, political parties, or other political committees. In upholding that 

limitation, the Court did not analyze how the contributions might ultimately be 

spent. 424 U.S. at 38. 

A few years after Buckley, a would-be contributor challenged the same 

contribution limits that SpeechNow challenges here. In an action brought under 

2 U.S.C. § 437h, an individual sought to contribute more than $5,000 to a political 

committee “to enable that organization to make independent expenditures.” Mott 

v. FEC, 494 F. Supp. 131, 133 (D.D.C. 1980), aff’d mem. sub nom. NCPAC v. 

FEC, 672 F.2d 896 (D.C. Cir. 1981). The district court dismissed the challenger’s 

constitutional claims as insubstantial under section 437h. In upholding the 

provisions as applied to contributions for independent expenditures, the court 

relied on Buckley’s distinction between expenditure and contribution limits. The 

latter limits, the court noted, “involve restrictions on indirect rather than on direct 

expression” and help curb corruption. Id. at 137. The Court further explained that 

the contribution limit in section 441a(a)(1)(C) reflects Congress’s “concern[ ] that 

the ‘independent’ political committee might become a vehicle for avoiding the 

restrictions placed on direct contributions to candidates.” Id. 

 Five years after Buckley, the Supreme Court in CalMed rejected the 

argument that contributions earmarked for administrative support could not be 

regulated because such contributions lacked potential to corrupt the political 

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process. 453 U.S. at 198 n.19. The Court understood that money is fungible and 

that contributions to the California Medical Association’s political committee — 

purportedly intended to pay for one type of expense — could free up funds to pay 

for anything. Thus, the Court upheld the contribution limit to a political committee 

that in part spent funds on independent expenditures and administrative costs. The 

Court upheld those limits in their entirety; it neither traced the extent to which the 

contributions received would be used for independent expenditures, nor found the 

statute unconstitutional as applied to contributions eventually spent on independent 

speech. 

 SpeechNow relies (Br. 40) on the concurring opinion of Justice Blackmun in 

CalMed, in which he explained (453 U.S. at 203) his view that “a different result 

would follow if” the contribution limits at issue were applied to committees 

established to make only independent expenditures. But even SpeechNow 

recognizes that Justice Blackmun’s view “is not binding precedent.” (Br. 40.) 

Indeed, those remarks of Justice Blackmun are dicta because the political 

committee at issue there made both contributions and expenditures. See CalMed, 

453 U.S. at 197 n.17 (plurality) (group of individuals making solely independent 

expenditures was a “hypothetical application of the Act” that the Court “need not 

consider.”). 

 Five years later, in FEC v. Mass. Citizens for Life, Inc., 479 U.S. 238 (1986) 

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(“MCFL”), the Court explained that a group could become a political committee, 

and would therefore have to abide by all restrictions applicable to such committees, 

based solely on the magnitude of its independent expenditures. The Court initially 

held that exempting a limited class of ideological nonprofit corporations from the 

Act’s prohibition on corporate expenditures would not open the door to corruption 

or to massive undisclosed political spending. The “major purpose” of such 

exempted corporations (see supra p. 6), as defined by the Court, was not candidate 

election activity, and they would still have to report their independent expenditures 

under 2 U.S.C. § 434(c). 479 U.S. at 262. But the Court also indicated that an 

ideological group like MCFL could be classified as a political committee if its 

independent expenditures became its major purpose: “[S]hould MCFL’s 

independent spending become so extensive that the organization’s major purpose 

may be regarded as campaign activity, the corporation would be classified as a 

political committee.” Id. And “[a]s such, it would automatically be subject to the 

obligations and restrictions applicable to those groups whose primary objective is 

to influence political campaigns.” Id. (citation omitted). Those “restrictions” 

include the contribution limits challenged here. 

In 1996, the Court reiterated that “‘the absence of prearrangement and 

coordination’ does not eliminate, but it does help to ‘alleviate,’ any ‘danger’ that a 

candidate will understand [an independent] expenditure as an effort to obtain a 

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‘quid pro quo.’” Colorado Republican Federal Campaign Comm. v. FEC 

(“Colorado I”), 518 U.S. 604, 616 (1996) (quoting NCPAC, 470 U.S. at 498). The 

Court also observed that there was a risk of corruption when donors could give 

large sums to entities that make independent expenditures (in that case, political 

party committees). Id. at 616-17. As Judge Leon explained before the McConnell

case reached the Supreme Court, “Reading Colorado I together with Buckley, 

Bellotti, Citizens Against Rent Control, and California Medical leaves one with a 

clear impression: donations used directly for the purpose of uncoordinated federal 

activity, like express advocacy, can engender corruption, or the appearance thereof, 

and are therefore regulable.” McConnell, 251 F. Supp. 2d at 767 (Leon, J.). See 

also id. at 765 (“Supreme Court precedent . . . intimates that donations closely 

connected to a candidate’s campaign — even if they are not direct contributions or 

coordinated expenditures — raise, at a minimum, the specter of corruption.”)

 Moreover, by the time of McConnell, voluminous evidence established a 

more complete record of the danger of corruption and its appearance from 

independent expenditures. McConnell involved so-called “issue advocacy” 

focused on candidates, which, unlike the ads that SpeechNow plans to broadcast, 

does not include express words of candidate advocacy. Nevertheless, the record 

compiled there demonstrated that candidates know and feel indebted to those who 

made such expenditures to help elect them. The Supreme Court explained that 

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“[w]hile the public may not have been fully informed about the sponsorship of socalled issue ads, the record indicates that candidate and officeholders often were.” 

McConnell, 540 U.S. at 128-29.8

 In particular, the Court rejected the notion that only a “direct contribution to 

the candidate” can “threaten to create . . . a sense of obligation” from a candidate to 

a donor. Id. at 144. The Court explained that persons seeking influence with 

officeholders and candidates have shown a history of exploiting loopholes in the 

Act, and that indirect attempts to use money to gain influence can create actual 

corruption, or the appearance of corruption, that can justify congressional efforts to 

protect the integrity of the democratic process. See generally id. at 143-154. As 

the Court stated, “[o]ur cases have firmly established that Congress’ legitimate 

interest extends beyond preventing simple cash-for-votes corruption to curbing 

‘undue influence on an officeholder’s judgment, and the appearance of such 

influence.’” Id. at 150 (quoting FEC v. Colorado Republican Fed. Campaign 

Comm., 533 U.S. 431, 441 (2001) (“Colorado II”)). 

 The Court explicitly rejected the kind of argument that SpeechNow makes 

here. Buckley and CalMed did not uphold contribution limits to political 

 

8

 In the district court, Judge Kollar-Kotelly found not only “that Members of 

Congress and federal candidates are very aware of who ran advertisements on their 

behalf,” but also that . . . . “Members will also be favorably disposed to those who 

finance these groups when they later seek access to discuss pending legislation.” 

McConnell, 251 F. Supp. 2d at 556. 

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committees simply because those funds could in turn be used to make direct 

contributions to candidates. Rather, as the Court explained, Buckley upheld 

“FECA’s $25,000 limit on aggregate yearly contributions to candidates, political 

committees, and party committees out of recognition that FECA’s $1,000 limit on 

candidate contributions would be meaningless if individuals could instead make 

‘huge contributions to the candidate’s political party’.” McConnell, 540 U.S. at 

152 n.48 (emphases added). 

 Discussing CalMed, the McConnell Court stated that the Court in that case 

did not justify FECA’s $5,000 limit on contributions to multicandidate political 

committees limits “as a means of preventing individuals from using parties and 

political committees as pass-throughs to circumvent FECA’s $1,000 limit on 

individual contributions to candidates.” 540 U.S. at 152 n.48. Given FECA’s 

definition of “contribution,” the $5,000 and $25,000 limits “restricted not only the 

source and amount of funds available to parties and political committees to make 

candidate contributions, but also the source and amount of funds available to 

engage in express advocacy and numerous other noncoordinated expenditures.” 

Id. (emphasis added). Thus, “[i]f indeed the First Amendment prohibited Congress 

from regulating contributions to fund the latter, the otherwise-easy-to-remedy 

exploitation of parties as pass-throughs (e.g., a strict limit on donations that could 

be used to fund candidate contributions) would have provided insufficient 

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justification for such overbroad legislation.” Id. (quotation marks and internal 

citations omitted). 

 SpeechNow’s case indisputably involves such “noncoordinated 

expenditures” of “express advocacy,” but SpeechNow fails to address McConnell’s 

explanation. And that reasoning was not dicta. This key discussion of CalMed

was a necessary part of the Court’s upholding the “soft money” restrictions in 

Title I of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (“BCRA”), Pub. L. No. 107-155, 

116 Stat. 81 (2002). The ban on soft money contributions to the national political 

parties, as well as the other restrictions on soft money donations to state and local 

parties, had nothing to do with money that the political parties were using to make 

contributions to federal candidates. The political parties had never disputed that 

contributions to candidates could only be made with “hard money.” In other 

words, the new soft money restrictions, by definition, involved large donations that 

could be spent by political party committees only on disbursements other than

contributions. Thus, in upholding Title I, McConnell necessarily decided that the 

government interest in limiting contributions to political committees was 

sufficiently important, even if the funds would ultimately be spent on “express 

advocacy and numerous other noncoordinated expenditures.” 540 U.S. at 152 

n.48. In sum, McConnell demonstrates that, contrary to SpeechNow’s contention, 

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the Commission is likely to prevail at the merits stage to prove that the 

contribution limits are constitutional.9

 

9

 The majority opinion in N.C. Right to Life, Inc. v. Leake, 525 F.3d 274 (4th

Cir. 2008), favored by SpeechNow (e.g., Br. 40), not only erroneously relied on 

Justice Blackmun’s dicta in CalMed but also failed to follow the reasoning of 

McConnell. As the district court in the present case noted (J.A. 395), Judge 

Michael “cogently explained the significance” of McConnell in his dissent in 

Leake. 525 F.3d at 333. The unpublished district court decision in Comm. on Jobs 

Candidate Advocacy Fund v. Herrera, 2007 WL 2790351 (N.D. Cal. 2007), cited 

by SpeechNow (Br. 41), suffers from a similar defect and, unlike here, concerns an 

ordinance that limited both contributions and independent expenditures by political 

committees. 

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c. Additional legislative facts from McConnell and other 

sources demonstrate that large contributions to groups 

that make independent expenditures can lead to 

corruption and its appearance10 

“Candidates whose campaigns benefit from these ads greatly appreciate the 

help of these groups,” explained former Senator Dale Bumpers. “In fact, Members 

will also be more favorably disposed to those who finance these groups when they 

later seek access to discuss pending legislation.” McConnell, 251 F. Supp. 2d 

at 556 (quoted in opinion of Kollar-Kotelly, J.). According to a Republican 

consultant, “[U]sually the ads are helpful and candidates appreciate them.” Rocky 

Pennington, A Practitioner Looks at How Issue Groups Select and Target Federal 

Candidates, in Inside the Campaign Finance Battle 251 (A. Corrado et al., eds., 

2003). A Democratic consultant agreed, explaining that “[o]f course candidates 

 

10 The parties and amici may present legislative facts at any level of litigation. 

See, e.g., Brief for State of Oregon, 1908 WL 27605, in Muller v. Oregon,

208 U.S. 412 (1908) (original “Brandeis brief”); Dunagin v. City of Oxford, Miss., 

718 F.2d 738, 748 n.8 (5th Cir. 1983) (“The writings and studies of social science 

experts on legislative facts are often considered and cited by the Supreme Court 

with or without introduction into the record or even consideration by the trial 

court.” (internal citations omitted.)). Legislative facts usually do not concern the 

immediate parties (“adjudicative” or “historical” facts) but are general facts that 

help the court resolve questions of law or policy. They are frequently based on a 

variety of materials such as reports, news articles, and academic studies, including 

political and social science studies. No Federal Rule of Evidence directly limits a 

court’s authority to consider them. See, e.g., Kenneth C. Davis, Administrative 

Law Text § 7.03, at 160 (3d ed. 1972); Fed. R. Evid. 201(a), Advisory Committee’s 

Note; Ass’n of Nat’l Advertisers, Inc. v. FTC, 627 F.2d 1151, 1162 (D.C. Cir. 

1979) (“The distinction between legislative and adjudicative facts has been widely 

accepted both within and without this circuit”). 

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often appreciate the help that these interest groups can provide, such as running 

attack ads for which the candidate has no responsibility.” Terry S. Beckett, A 

Consultant’s View on How Issue Ads Shaped a Congressional Election, in id. 

at 256. Former congressional candidate Linda Chapin explained that “[f]ederal 

candidates appreciate interest group electioneering ads like those described above 

that benefit their campaigns, just as they appreciate large donations that help their 

campaigns.” McConnell, 251 F. Supp. 2d at 556 (quoted in opinion of KollarKotelly, J.). 

That candidates value independent spending is unsurprising: Empirical 

analyses confirm the spending’s effectiveness. For example, a 2002 study of 

reported independent expenditure spending by PACs concluded that “independent 

expenditures can significantly affect vote choice.” Richard N. Engstrom and 

Christopher Kenny, The Effects of Independent Expenditures in Senate Elections, 

Pol. Research Quarterly 55 (4):885-905, 885 (2002). Similarly, an analysis of 

organized labor’s 1996 candidate-focused advocacy campaigns that avoided 

express advocacy concluded that “money spent outside the regular campaigns on 

‘voter education’ can have a major effect on election results.” Gary C. Jacobson, 

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The Effect of the AFL-CIO’s “Voter Education” Campaigns on the 1996 House 

Elections, 61 J. Pol. (1): 185-94.11

 The effectiveness of independent expenditures and candidate-focused 

communications that omit express advocacy — and their value to candidates — 

continues to rise as political professionals apply the lessons of past campaigns. As 

a large study of the 2000 elections concluded, “‘interest groups in 2000 . . . 

mounted the equivalent of full-fledged campaigns for and against specific 

candidates. The campaigns were fully professional, and included pollsters, media 

consultants, general strategists, mail consultants, and so forth.’” David B. 

Magleby, Conclusions and Implications for Future Research, in The Other 

Campaign: Soft Money and Issue Advocacy in the 2000 Congressional Elections

(David Magleby, ed. 2003). 

 Independent groups can effectively supplement their preferred candidate’s 

campaign efforts, without directly coordinating with them. Officials with both 

MoveOn.org and The Media Fund explained their ability to achieve “striking 

 

11 Specific examples of independent expenditures that are widely understood to 

have dramatically influenced elections include the National Security Political 

Action Committee’s “Willie Horton” ad in the 1988 presidential race, Kenneth T. 

Walsh, Political Ads: Good, Bad, and Ugly, U.S. News & World Rep., Jan. 28, 

2008, at 53, and the Swift Boat Vets ads that impugned Senator Kerry’s war record 

during the 2004 election. See, e.g., Michael Janofsky, Advocacy Groups Spent 

Record Amount of 2004 Election, N.Y. Times, Dec. 17, 2004; Frank Luntz, Why 

Bush Won the Credibility Factor, Wash. Times, Nov. 5, 2004, at A21. 

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synchronicity” with the advertising of the Kerry Campaign in 2004 by “noting that 

it is relatively easy to monitor the media purchases by candidates.” See, e.g., Jim 

Rutenberg, Democrat’s Ads in Tandem Provoke G.O.P., N.Y. Times, Mar. 27, 

2004. As a Republican strategist explained, “smart people can figure out pretty 

easily how to run a campaign that’s consistent with or in concert with candidates 

they oppose or support.” Interview with Paul Manafort by Jules Witcover, The 

Buying of the President, Center for Public Integrity, Mar. 20, 2007, 

http://www.buyingofthepresident.org/index.php/interviews/paul_manafort. 

 Contributions to independent groups to run ads have, in fact, been even more 

valuable to a candidate’s campaign than a direct contribution in one unique way: 

interest group ads allow candidates to keep their hands clean. The Swift Boat 

campaign “‘delivered a message that the Bush campaign and the RNC could not, 

and Bush got the best of both worlds because he could decry 527s and benefit from 

their activities at the same time.’” Ctr. for the Study of Elections and Democracy, 

527s Had a Substantial Impact on the Ground and Air Wars in 2004, Will Return 

/Swift Boat Veterans 527 Played Historic Role (Dec. 16, 2004) (quoting Professor 

David Magleby). 

 As a result of their value to candidates, large contributions to groups that 

make independent expenditures lead to preferential access for donors and undue 

influence over officeholders. Because contributions to political committees have 

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been limited under the Act (and soft money donations to parties banned since 

BCRA), access- and influence-seeking donors have also made large contributions 

to independent groups, including section 501(c) and 527 organizations purporting 

not to constitute “political committees” under FECA. In the 2004 election, 

numerous 527 groups raised hundreds of millions of dollars — much of it from 

those who previously donated substantial amounts of party soft money — to 

employ legions of campaign workers and to run candidate-focused ads in about a 

dozen swing states. See Glen Justice, Advocacy Groups Reflect on Their Role in 

the Election, N.Y. Times, Nov. 5, 2005; Weissman & Hasssan (Addendum 5-38). 

 George Soros, who contributed more than $20 million to such 527 groups in 

2004, admittedly sought access and influence over Senator Kerry through these 

contributions: “I would be very happy,” Soros explained in a 2004 interview, “to 

advise Kerry, if he’s willing to listen to me, and to criticize him if he isn’t. I’ve 

been trying to exert some influence over our policies, and I hope I’ll get a better 

hearing under Kerry.” Jane Mayer, The Money Man: Can George Soros’s 

Millions Insure the Defeat of President Bush, New Yorker, Oct. 18, 2004; 

Weissman & Hassan at 79 (Addendum 6). Similarly, T. Boone Pickens, who 

contributed $1 million to Swift Boat Vets and later received an invitation to an 

exclusive state dinner, admitted that “he has had some influence” on President 

Bush’s position on drilling and energy independence. See John Fund, Energy 

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Independent: Maverick Oilman Boone Pickens Talks About Fuel Prices And His 

Love For Philanthropy, Wall Street J., June 2, 2007, at 2. As former Senator 

Bumpers warned, “‘members will . . . be favorably disposed to those who finance 

the[] groups [running independent ads] when they later seek access to discuss 

pending legislation.’” McConnell, 251 F. Supp. 2d at 556 (Kollar-Kotelly, J.). 

In fact, much like solicitations for party soft money, solicitations for 

contributions to 527 groups were made by partisan activists who reassured donors 

that their contributions would be appreciated by party officials. Indeed, a typically 

dense web of relations between independent expenditure groups, candidates, and 

parties ensures that candidates know of the help provided by the groups as well as 

their donors. See generally Weissman & Hassan at 84-90 (Addendum 11-17); 

Robert W. Hickmott, Large Contributions Given to Influence Legislation, in Inside

the Campaign Finance Battle 302-04 (2003). In 2004, for example, visible signals 

from party leaders helped Republican-leaning groups, such as Progress for 

America, raise funds. See Weissman & Hassan at 88 (Addendum 15). Leaders of 

Democratic-leaning 527 organizations sought to persuade donors that their serious 

efforts were recognized by the party: Ellen Malcolm, president of America 

Coming Together, and former Clinton Chief of Staff Harold Ickes, who ran The 

Media Fund, reassured donors of their relationship to the party and the campaigns. 

Id. at 86-87. Their message was, “We don’t talk to the campaigns, are not 

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connected to them, but they know and appreciate us and contributions are part of 

the public record and they are aware.” Id. at 86. 

Even if their identities are not broadly known or otherwise reported, accessor influence-seeking donors can signal to candidates and party leaders that they 

have given to independent groups. “[I]nterest groups can be the ones who apprise 

politicians of the advertisements that they run on their behalf.” McConnell, 251 F. 

Supp. 2d at 556 (Kollar-Kotelly, J.). Although candidates may know who is 

running ads helpful to them, the public may not. Individuals may create groups 

with “dubious and misleading names” like “The Coalition — Americans Working 

for Real Change,” “Citizens for Better Medicare,” and “Republicans for Clean 

Air.” See McConnell, 540 U.S. at 197 (quoting McConnell, 251 F. Supp. 2d 

at 237). Because independent groups usually operate under these types of names, 

the California Fair Political Practices Commission concluded in a 2008 report that 

“[f]or the average voter it involves far too much detective work to figure out who 

is really behind a particular ‘independent expenditure’ committee or effort.” 

FPPC, Independent Expenditures: The Giant Gorilla in Campaign Finance, June 

2008, at 6, http://www.fppc.ca.gov/ie/IEReport2.pdf. 

Large contributions to groups that make independent expenditures can 

influence legislative votes. In 1998, for example, Republican Majority Leader 

Mitch McConnell promised Republican Senators that the tobacco industry would 

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mount a television campaign to support senators who voted to kill comprehensive 

tobacco legislation. According to Senator McCain, the promise was used to 

influence votes. John McCain, Congress is Mired in Corrupt Soft Money, in Inside 

the Campaign Finance Battle 325 (A. Corrado et al., eds., 2003). Also in 1998, a 

Native American tribe offered to undertake a substantial independent spending 

campaign supporting Oklahoma Congressman Vince Snowbarger’s re-election in 

exchange for his support of legislation involving a casino the tribe wanted to build. 

See Jack Cashill, Moore of the Same Old Stuff, Ingrams Magazine, November 1999 

at 19-20; Rick Alm and Jim Sullinger, Congressman Calls Lobbyist’s Tactics 

Illegal — Lobbyist Argued Monday Over Whether Papers Faxed to the 

Congressman’s Office Last Month Were A Veiled Attempt to Buy His Vote, Kan. 

City Star, Oct. 6, 1998.12

 

12 Indeed, as part of a criminal scheme, one legislator arranged for legislative 

favors in return for donations to groups that purported to make independent 

expenditures. According to witnesses in connection with a criminal investigation, 

the former majority leader of the Wisconsin state senate, Charles Chvala, 

encouraged entities to contribute to such groups after they had “maxed out” their 

giving to candidate and party committees. Contributors sought favorable 

legislative action in return, and in one case appeared to obtain the removal of an 

unfavorable tax provision from a budget bill. See, e.g., Steve Schultze and Richard 

P. Jones, Chvala Charged With Extortion, Milwaukee J. Sentinel, Oct. 18, 2002, at 

2; Steven Walters and Patrick Marley, Chvala Reaches Plea Deal, Milwaukee J. 

Sentinel, Oct. 24, 2005, at 2; Wisconsin v. Chvala, No. 02-CF002451 (Dane Cty. 

Cir. Ct., filed Oct. 17, 2002) (Compl.). Congress can, of course, address not just 

such “straight cash-for-votes transactions,” but also less direct and less detectable 

forms of corruption. McConnell, 540 U.S. at 153. 

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In light of these facts, the public unsurprisingly views large contributions to 

fund independent expenditures as potentially corruptive. Only three months ago, 

the Supreme Court held that a plaintiff’s due process rights were violated when a 

judge who participated in a decision against the plaintiff had benefited in his 

election campaign from an “extraordinary” amount of independent expenditures 

and contributions to fund independent expenditures by the head of the defendant 

corporation. Caperton v. A.T. Massey Coal Co., Inc., 129 S. Ct. 2252, 2256-2257 

(2009). In finding that the judge should have recused himself, the Court did not 

determine whether he was actually biased in favor of the defendant, id. at 2263; 

however, “the risk that [the corporate officer’s] influence engendered actual bias is 

sufficiently substantial that it must be forbidden.” Id. at 2264 (internal quotation 

marks and citation omitted). 

The corporate officer had spent over $500,000 on his own independent 

expenditures to support the judge. 129 S. Ct. at 2257. He had also contributed 

almost $2.5 million — more than two-thirds of the funds received — to “And for 

the Sake of the Kids,” an innocently-named 527 group that ran independent 

expenditures against one of the court’s incumbent justices and helped defeat him. 

Id. A telephone poll of West Virginians later revealed that more than two-thirds 

doubted the judge elected with the corporate officer’s help could fairly consider the 

corporation’s appeal. Id. at 2258. Similarly, a survey during the McConnell

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litigation revealed that an overwhelming majority of the public believed that ads 

run by issue groups on a candidate’s behalf would “likely” lead to “special 

consideration” by Members of Congress. McConnell, 251 F. Supp. 2d at 513, 

557-58 (Kollar-Kotelly, J.); id. at 800 n.117, 872 (Leon, J.). 

 The concerns described above properly informed the district court’s 

reasoning below when it examined the activities of section 527 organizations and 

concluded that appellants had not shown a likelihood of success on the merits 

(J.A. 389-393). 

d. A Victory for SpeechNow Would Undermine the 

Anti-Corruption Purpose of the Act 

 If SpeechNow could accept unlimited contributions, that ability would raise 

the risk of corruption or, at the least, the appearance of corruption. The 

organization’s bylaws do not clearly state whether SpeechNow’s contributors may 

inform candidates of the group’s efforts after expenditures are made nor whether 

the contributors may generally publicize them or the contributors’ role in financing 

them. Although SpeechNow’s bylaws attempt to “prohibit[ ] speech” by the 

organization’s members and donors directly to candidates about SpeechNow’s 

advertising mentioning the candidates, the organization cannot in practice police 

that prohibition. (See J.A. 85 §§ 7, 10.) In any event, as discussed above and as 

the Supreme Court found in McConnell, candidates and officeholders usually know 

whose expenditures helped them in their elections. Even Jon Coupal, 

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SpeechNow’s vice-president and secretary, has publicly indicated that independent 

expenditures can raise the risk of corruption or, at the least, the appearance of 

corruption. (J.A. 290-91; see also Jon Coupal, Burning Through Taxpayer 

Dollars, Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Ass’n: California Commentary, Vol. 2, Issue 

XIII, March 29, 2004.) 

Moreover, although appellants have brought an as-applied challenge, if they 

prevail, their victory would not only free SpeechNow from contribution limits; as 

appellants themselves predict, it would create a precedent for other “major 

purpose” organizations. See, e.g., Appellants’ Mot. to Expedite Consideration at 9 

(“A preliminary injunction for SpeechNow.org may also encourage other groups to 

adopt SpeechNow.org’s model”); Kathleen M. Sullivan & Gerald Gunther, 

Constitutional Law 1081 (16th ed. 2007). In congressional testimony, the executive 

director of the Campaign Finance Institute, Michael J. Malbin, summarized the 

danger of permitting unlimited contributions to independent groups, even those 

that purported not to meet the political committee requirements: “With almost all 

of the 527s associating themselves with the two major parties and their candidates, 

and with the great majority of contributions coming from donors giving in the 

millions, rather than thousands or even tens of thousands of dollars, big 527 donors 

today are positioned to garner more attention and consideration from parties and 

candidates than those who give the maximum direct contribution of $2,000-

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$25,000.” Senate Committee on Rules and Administration, Hearing to Examine 

and Discuss S.271, a Bill Which Reforms the Regulatory and Reporting Structure 

of Organizations Registered Under Section 527 of the Internal Revenue Code, 

109th Cong. (Mar. 8, 2005) (written testimony of Michael J. Malbin) (available at 

http://rules.senate.gov/hearings/2005/MalbinTestimony.pdf. 

 Thus, success for SpeechNow could lead to the proliferation of independent 

expenditure political committees devoted to supporting or opposing a single 

federal candidate or officeholder and funded entirely by very large contributions. 

Donors could contribute millions of dollars in an election year for express 

candidate advocacy and thereby would gain unprecedented influence over 

candidates and elected officials. See Edward B. Foley, The “Major Purpose” Test: 

Distinguishing Between Election-Focused and Issue-Focused Groups, 31 N. Ky. L. 

Rev. 341, 346 (2004) (“[W]hen a political committee is focused on electing one 

particular candidate (or defeating that candidate’s opponent), a large-dollar gift to 

that political committee is almost as good as a large-dollar gift to the candidate’s 

own campaign would be as a means to secure improper favoritism from that 

candidate once in office.”). The risk of corruption and its appearance would 

remain even if these groups were to include in their bylaws the same prohibitions 

and restrictions that SpeechNow includes in its bylaws. 

 

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e. Contributors to SpeechNow Differ in Constitutionally 

Significant Ways from Individual Independent Speakers 

Individuals who make their own independent expenditures select the 

candidates they will support or oppose. They write their own scripts for their 

express advocacy or use a consultant to do so and approve them. In short, such 

individuals speak in their own voices. See, e.g., FEC v. Furgatch, 807 F.2d 857 

(9th Cir. 1987). 

In sharp contrast, SpeechNow’s contributors, like contributors to candidates 

and political parties, will “speak” only indirectly. SpeechNow’s founder, 

president, and treasurer, David Keating, administers all of the organization’s 

affairs, including the creation of all the proposed advertisements. (J.A. 17-18 ¶ 8; 

J.A. 51¶ 4.) The bylaws do not require SpeechNow’s five members, in exercising 

their powers, to consult with nonmember contributors, and an individual cannot 

become a “member” by providing financial or other support to the organization. 

(J.A. 78 § 5.). Although the organization will inform potential contributors that 

their contributions “may be used for political purposes such as supporting or 

opposing candidates” (J.A. 83 § 11), the organization will also advise potential 

contributors that their contributions “will be spent according to the sole discretion” 

of SpeechNow (J.A. 83 § 11; J.A. 284, 288 (draft solicitation letters)). Thus, 

contributions to SpeechNow are not like independent speech in an individual’s 

own voice to support particular candidates, but are instead “the undifferentiated, 

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symbolic act of contributing” and only “serve[] as a general expression of support” 

for SpeechNow and the candidates it prefers. Buckley, 424 U.S. at 21. 

SpeechNow is not unique in this respect. Many political committees, 

especially “the ideological nonconnected PACs,” are dominated by a few insiders 

and large donors and are rarely accountable to the majority of donors. Larry J. 

Sabato, PACs and Parties, in Annelise Anderson, ed., Political Money 77 (2000) 

(accessible through http://www.campaignfinancesite.org/book/html/contents.html). 

“Most . . . [nonconnected political committees ] are, in fact, ‘one person’ 

operations in which a single executive director, or at best a small group of insiders, 

makes the crucial decisions without much review.” Frank J. Sorauf, Who’s in 

Charge? Accountability in Political Action Committees, 99 Pol. Science Q. 591, 

595 (1984-85). Thus, “[i]n giving money to a PAC . . . , donors have chosen a 

political act that has as one of its attractions a lack of responsibility for the final 

disposition of their contributions. . . . [T]hey have chosen a course of political 

action that demands only a modest level of involvement.” Id. at 611. 

f. Unlimited Contributions to Organizations Like 

SpeechNow Would Undercut the Act’s Disclaimer 

Requirements 

 Under appellants’ view of the law, SpeechNow would not be required to 

reveal the donors behind its expenditures in the disclaimers required in its express 

advocacy communications, even though the Supreme Court has held that the Act’s 

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disclosure provisions serve important governmental interests. The Act requires 

that these communications include informational disclaimers: stating who is 

making the independent expenditure, providing contact information, and stating 

whether the communication was authorized by any candidate. Disclaimers on 

independent expenditures by political committees need not include information 

about who contributed to the political committee. 

 Although candidates and officeholders whose elections were influenced 

would likely know the identity of the big donors behind SpeechNow’s ads, the 

public would not receive this information contemporaneously.13 In McConnell, for 

example, the Supreme Court found that “Republicans for Clean Air, which ran ads 

in the 2000 Republican Presidential primary, was actually an organization 

consisting of just two individuals — brothers who together spent $25 million on 

ads supporting their favored candidate.” 540 U.S. at 128. If individuals cannot 

hide behind the façade of an independent expenditure organization but instead pay 

for such communications themselves, the disclaimers will then directly reveal the 

true source of the communications’ funding. Thus, by accepting unlimited 

 

13 Even though the identity of individuals who paid for the ads through 

SpeechNow may eventually be disclosed in the organization’s independent 

expenditure reports, Congress and the Supreme Court have recognized the public’s 

interest in learning who is responsible for election ads at the moment they are 

aired. See, e.g., McConnell, 540 U.S. at 231 (upholding the application of 

disclaimer requirements to electioneering communications). 

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contributions and acting as a conduit, SpeechNow would deprive the public of 

accurate disclaimers that help prevent corruption. 

 2. The Act’s Biennial Aggregate Contribution Limits are 

Constitutional 

Buckley upheld the Act’s limit on total annual individual contributions, even 

though this limit restricts the number of candidates and committees with which an 

individual may associate. 424 U.S. at 38. The Court found that this aggregate 

contribution limit was a “modest restraint” and a mere “corollary” of the individual 

contribution limit that was closely drawn to match sufficiently important interests. 

Id. The aggregate limit “serve[s] to prevent evasion of the [candidate] contribution 

limitation by a person who might otherwise contribute massive amounts of money 

to a particular candidate through the use of unearmarked contributions to political 

committees likely to contribute to that candidate.” Id. 

Since Buckley, the aggregate biennial contribution limits have been 

increased and indexed to inflation. The limit for an individual for the 2009-2010 

election cycle totals $115,500 ($69,900 to all political committees and parties; 

$45,600 to all candidates). See www.fec.gov/pages/brochures/contrib.shtml#Chart 

(visited Sept. 17, 2009); see also J.A. 269-270. 

 Buckley and subsequent cases have affirmed the constitutionality of the 

Act’s contribution limits to candidates, id. at 23-35; political committees, Cal Med,

453 U.S. at 182; and political party committees, McConnell, 540 U.S. at 142-89. 

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The biennial aggregate contribution limit remains a constitutional corollary of 

those limits. Although SpeechNow.org will not make contributions to candidates, 

this fact does not undermine the validity of the biennial limit; as we explained 

supra section II.A.1, contribution limits to political committees that only make 

independent expenditures are also constitutional. 

B. SpeechNow Failed To Demonstrate Irreparable Harm 

 SpeechNow and the individual plaintiffs failed to meet their burden of 

demonstrating that they will suffer irreparable harm without the requested 

temporary relief. To obtain a preliminary injunction, “[a] litigant must do more 

than merely allege the violation of First Amendment rights” because “the finding 

of irreparable injury cannot meaningfully be rested on a mere contention of a 

litigant.” Wagner v. Taylor, 836 F.2d 566, 576 n.76 (D.C. Cir. 1987) (quotation 

marks omitted); see also NTEU v. United States, 927 F.2d 1253, 1254-55 (D.C. 

Cir. 1991). 

 Instead, “in instances where a plaintiff alleges injury from a rule or 

regulation that may only potentially affect speech, the plaintiff must establish a 

causal link between the injunction sought and the alleged injury, that is, the 

plaintiff must demonstrate that the injunction will prevent the feared deprivation of 

free speech rights.” Chaplaincy of Full Gospel Churches v. England, 454 F.3d 

290, 301 (D.C. Cir. 2006) (“Chaplaincy”) (internal quotation marks and citation 

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omitted). This requirement sets a “high standard for irreparable injury.” Id.

at 297. The “injury must be both certain and great,” and “actual and not 

theoretical.” Wisconsin Gas Co. v. FERC, 758 F.2d 669, 674 (D.C. Cir. 1985). 

Plaintiffs must also “show that [t]he injury complained of [is] of such imminence 

that there is a clear and present need for equitable relief to prevent irreparable 

harm.” Id. (internal citation and quotation marks omitted). 

1. SpeechNow’s Alleged Injuries Are Neither Actual 

Nor Certain and, If They Exist, Are Largely Self-Inflicted 

 Contrary to SpeechNow’s repeated assertion, the Act’s contribution limits 

for individuals do not “mak[e] it virtually impossible for SpeechNow to carry out 

its mission.” (J.A. 16 ¶ 2; see also, e.g., Br. 46.) The annual and biennial 

contribution limits did not prevent Keating and his colleagues from taking steps 

toward achieving their goals. They adopted articles of organization and bylaws, 

appointed an agent for service of process, registered with the District of Columbia, 

and filed a Notice of Section 527 status with the Internal Revenue Service. 

(J.A. 65-76; see also J.A. 281 (Notice of Business Tax Registration).) 

 Keating also developed a working website, including a “sign-up page for 

people who are interested in supporting the organization’s activities.” (J.A. 51 

¶ 4.) Visitors who submit their names and addresses are encouraged to check a 

box indicating whether they would “consider making a donation to 

SpeechNow.org.” http:// www. SpeechNow.org/supportpage (visited Feb. 22, 

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2008). Keating drafted proposed public solicitations (J.A. 283-88) and prepared 

scripts for express advocacy advertisements SpeechNow allegedly wished to run in 

elections in Indiana and Louisiana. (J.A. 110-114.) The total cost of these 

activities, Keating declared, was less than the threshold $1,000 amount for political 

committee status or the $5,000 individual contribution limit. (J.A. 60-61 ¶ 31.) 

And as a result of this litigation, national newspapers have publicized 

SpeechNow.14 Thus, the organization is situated better in its “start-up” phase than 

many of the thousands of major-purpose entities that have complied with the Act’s 

contribution limits for the last thirty plus years. (See J.A. 273 (Summary of PAC 

Activity 1990-2006).) 

 Appellants presented no evidence, however, that they took other inexpensive 

and common steps to raise funds. For example, SpeechNow’s members could 

have tapped their extensive social and business networks. In addition to his 

functions as SpeechNow’s founder and president, Keating is executive director of 

Club for Growth, “the nation’s largest political action group supporting 

pro-economic growth,” and a veteran political activist. (J.A. 50 ¶ 2; J.A. 58-59 

¶ 27; http://www.clubforgrowth.org/keating.php (last visited Sept. 7, 2009).) 

 

14 See, e.g., Suit Aims To Ease Campaign Funding Limit, The Washington 

Times (Feb. 15, 2008) (J.A. 297-98); Suit Could Unleash Surge Of Money In 2008 

Presidential Race, The New York Sun (Feb. 15, 2008) (J.A. 303-04; On Message, 

Los Angeles Times (Feb. 15, 2008) (J.A. 300-01); Unfettered Speech, Now, 

Washington Post (Feb 16, 2008) (J.A. 293-94). 

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Crane is the founder and longtime president of the Cato Institute, a well-known 

nonprofit research organization. (J.A. 104 ¶ 8.) Jon Coupal, SpeechNow’s vicepresident and secretary (J.A. 76), is president of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayer 

Association, a California taxpayer organization with more than 250,000 supporters. 

Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, About Us, http://www.hjta.org/aboutus 

(visited Feb. 26, 2008). 

 SpeechNow provided no evidence that these well-connected members 

consulted their Rolodexes for names of affluent friends, colleagues, and relatives 

and then “dialed for dollars.” Personal telephone calls and face-to-face meetings 

are effective methods of raising larger contributions, including those within the 

contribution limits. See Jeffrey M. Berry and Clyde Wilcox, The Interest Group 

Society 50-51 (5th ed. 2009); Institute for Politics, Democracy & the Internet, The 

George Washington University Graduate School of Political Management, Small 

Donors and Online Giving 20 (2006) (available at www.IPDI.org) (Larger 

regulated contributions are more likely to have been made because “they were 

encouraged by a family member, friend or colleague. This personal touch is a 

powerful incentive and it . . . reflects the networks of donors within which large 

donors circulate.”); see also id. at 19, 23. Moreover, the potential donors identified 

from their responses to SpeechNow’s website could have helped finance the 

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organization’s advertisements and thereby obviated the need for any extra-limit 

donations, such as the donation proposed by appellant Young. 

 If, as SpeechNow told the district court (J.A. 55-56 ¶¶ 18-19; J.A. 101), the 

initial proposed advertisements would have cost approximately $120,000, the 

organization could have financed the advertisements with contributions within the 

statutory limits from the individual appellants and from as few as twenty-two 

additional individual contributors who each gave $5,000. Appellants’ failure to 

engage in self-help reflected a tactical decision. At the preliminary injunction 

hearing, SpeechNow’s counsel admitted that SpeechNow had taken few steps to 

make the organization operational, choosing to pursue this lawsuit first instead. 

(J.A. 312, lines 11-12.)15 Thus, appellants chose not to accept contributions in 

amounts up to $5,000 while they pursue this test case.16 “[S]elf-inflicted wounds 

are not irreparable injury. Only the injury inflicted by one’s adversary counts for 

this purpose.” Second City Music, Inc. v. City of Chicago, Ill., 333 F.3d 846, 850 

 

15 THE COURT: Okay. So it would be correct to conclude that 

except for asking for an advisory opinion and filing this lawsuit, 

SpeechNow has had no operational life at all? 

MR. SIMPSON: That’s essentially true, other than the 

web site. 

(J.A. 312, lines 21-25.) 

16 Although appellants express concern about the reporting and disclosure 

requirements (Br. 53-54), they chose not to challenge those in their requested 

preliminary injunction. 

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(7th Cir. 2003).17 Appellants have not met their burden to “establish a causal link 

between the injunction sought and the alleged injury.” Chaplaincy, 454 F.3d at 

301 (internal quotation marks and citation omitted). 

 Appellants’ “cries of urgency are [also] sharply undercut by [their] own 

rather leisurely approach to . . . preliminary injunctive relief.” Charlesbank Equity 

Fund II v. Blinds To Go, Inc., 370 F.3d 151, 163 (lst Cir. 2004). Accord, e.g.,

Quince Orchard Valley Citizens Ass’n v. Hodel, 872 F.2d 75, 80 (4th Cir. 1989) 

(“[A] period of delay may . . . indicate an absence of the kind of irreparable harm 

required to support a preliminary injunction.” (Internal quotation marks omitted.)); 

11A Charles Alan Wright, Arthur R. Miller, & Mary Kay Kane, Fed. Prac. & 

Proc. Civ.2d § 2948.1, at 156 & n.12. Although appellants initially appealed the 

denial of their preliminary injunction motion within a month of the district court’s 

decision (J.A. 9, Entry 38), they moved for an abeyance three months later, and 

then waited more than seven months, until late June 2009, to revive the appeal — 

and then asked this Court to expedite the matter. (D.C. Cir. Docket , No. 08-5223.) 

See M&G Elecs. Sales Corp. v. Sony Kabushiki Kaisha, 250 F. Supp. 2d 91, 105-

 

17 See also, e.g., Salt Lake Tribune Pub. Co., LLC v. AT & T Corp., 320 F.3d 

1081, 1106 (10th Cir. 2003) (“We will not consider a self-inflicted harm to be 

irreparable.”); Caplan v. Fellheimer Eichen Braverman & Kaskey, 68 F.3d 828, 

839 (3d Cir. 1995) (“Because defendants have acted to permit the outcome which 

they find unacceptable, we must conclude that such an outcome is not an 

irreparable injury.”); Lee v. Christian Coalition of America, Inc., 160 F. Supp. 2d 

14, 33 (D.D.C. 2001) (self-inflicted harm does not satisfy the irreparable harm 

criterion); Barton v. District of Columbia, 131 F. Supp. 2d 236, 248 (D.D.C. 2001). 

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106 (E.D.N.Y. 2003) (holding that the plaintiff’s delay, including an earlier filed, 

but later withdrawn, motion for a preliminary injunction, was properly considered 

in ruling on subsequent preliminary injunction motion). 

2. The Contribution Limits Do Not Substantially Harm 

the Speech and Associational Rights of the Individual 

Appellants 

 The contribution limits in themselves do not undermine the potential for 

vigorous and effective discussion of candidates by individual citizens and groups. 

Buckley, 424 U.S. at 21-22, 28-29. Appellant Young allegedly would contribute 

$110,000 immediately to SpeechNow. (J.A. 18 ¶ 10.) He could, however, spend 

$105,000 of that sum (or more) “on direct political expression” rather than 

“contribut[ing] amounts greater than the statutory limits.” Buckley, 424 U.S. at 22. 

The Supreme Court upheld the contribution limits in part precisely because 

individuals have that option, so Young cannot demonstrate that FECA has caused 

him irreparable harm because he chooses not to exercise the option. 

 Appellant Crane and non-plaintiff Richard Marder allegedly would 

immediately donate $6,000 and $5,500, respectively, if not for the $5,000 

contribution limit. (J.A. 18 ¶ 9; J.A. 57 ¶ 25.) Appellant Keating would also 

contribute $5,500. (J.A. 57 ¶ 25.) But the relatively small amounts above the 

statutory threshold that they are prepared to contribute are not of constitutional 

dimension — they are “distinctions in degree,” not significant “differences in 

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kind.” Buckley, 424 U.S. at 30. SpeechNow also alleges that appellants Burkhardt 

and Russo would contribute $100 each. (J.A. 19 ¶¶ 11-12.) But these amounts are 

well below the $5,000 limit and may be given freely even if SpeechNow registers 

and operates as a political committee. 

 The gist of appellants’ allegations of harm, therefore, seems to be that the 

individual appellants other than Young are injured because they cannot pool their 

resources through SpeechNow with all $110,000 of Young’s proposed contribution 

— an amount that would have provided approximately 90% of the funds for the 

proposed initial $120,000 ad campaign. But under Buckley, Congress can enact 

contribution limits even if the indirect effect of those limits is to require a political 

committee to reach out to additional sympathetic individuals and for Young to 

spend his cash in excess of $5,000 on his own direct political expression. 

 SpeechNow invokes Elrod v. Burns, 427 U.S. 347 (1976), but that case 

does not supply the missing requisite irreparable injury. Elrod held that employee 

dismissal based on political party patronage was an unconstitutional infringement 

of employees’ First Amendment rights. Id. at 372. This holding rested on the 

specific finding that government employees had already been “threatened with 

discharge or had agreed to provide support for the Democratic Party in order to 

avoid discharge,” and it was “clear therefore that First Amendment interests were 

either threatened or in fact being impaired at the time relief was sought.” Id. 

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at 373. Here, however, SpeechNow and the individual appellants did not allege 

that the government was taking any action against them, let alone the kind of 

imminent or actual threats present in Elrod. 

 This Court has repeatedly explained that Elrod does not eliminate a 

plaintiff’s burden to show that its interests in political speech are actually 

threatened or in fact being impaired. Chaplaincy, 454 F.3d at 301 (discussing 

Elrod and stating that, “there is no per se rule that a violation of freedom of 

expression automatically constitutes irreparable harm” (internal citation and 

quotation marks omitted)); NTEU, 927 F.2d at 1254-55; Wagner, 836 F.2d at 576 

n.76; see also Christian Knights of the Ku Klux Klan Invisible Empire, Inc. v. 

District of Columbia, 919 F.2d 148, 149-150 (D.C. Cir. 1990) (denying 

preliminary injunction to require local government to issue parade permit for 

planned march longer than one for which plaintiff had received permit because 

shorter parade was not total denial of First Amendment rights).18

3. SpeechNow Faces No Imminent or Irreparable Injury from 

the Possibility of an Enforcement Proceeding 

SpeechNow also failed to establish that “[t]he injury complained of [is] of 

such imminence that there is a clear and present need for equitable relief to prevent 

 

18 In conjunction with citing Elrod, SpeechNow cites (Br. 45) Mills v. District 

of Columbia, 571 F.3d 1304 (D.C. Cir. 2009), but that case concerned a Fourth 

Amendment challenge to the District’s “Neighborhood Safety Zones” checkpoint 

program that allowed police to stop and question individuals entering a particular 

neighborhood. 

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irreparable harm.” Wisconsin Gas, 758 F.2d at 674 (emphasis in original; internal 

citation and quotation marks omitted). Appellants claim that they “fac[e] 

punishment for breaking the law” (Br. 46), but they provide only a hypothetical 

sequence of events that is “far too speculative to warrant preliminary injunctive 

relief.” Chaplaincy, 454 F.3d at 298. 

 The alleged harm depends upon the Commission’s instituting and 

completing an investigation. Setting aside that the Commission has never tried to 

enforce a prior restraint on anyone’s speech, the harm SpeechNow fears is far from 

imminent. Congress carefully designed the Act’s enforcement procedures “to 

ensure fairness . . . to respondents.” See Perot v. FEC, 97 F.3d 553, 559 (D.C. Cir. 

1996). Under the Act’s elaborate enforcement procedures — which include 

multiple opportunities for an administrative respondent to file briefs and permit 

only a court to impose a remedy on a respondent unwilling to agree to one — 

“complaints filed shortly before elections . . . might not be investigated and 

prosecuted until after the event.” Id. at 559. Accordingly, the likelihood that 

SpeechNow would suffer anything beyond an investigative proceeding during the 

life of a preliminary injunction is remote. 

 Having to respond to an administrative enforcement proceeding is not 

irreparable harm. “‘Mere litigation expense, even substantial and unrecoupable 

cost, does not constitute irreparable injury.’” FTC v. Standard Oil Co. of Cal., 

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449 U.S. 232, 244 (1980) (quoting Renegotiation Board v. Bannercraft Clothing 

Co., 415 U.S. 1, 24 (1974)); see also Sears Roebuck & Co. v. NLRB, 473 F.2d 91, 

93 (D.C. Cir. 1972). Thus, any burden associated with responding to a possible 

future FEC enforcement proceeding cannot constitute irreparable harm warranting 

preliminary injunctive relief. 

 Even if an administrative proceeding during that time concluded with the 

institution of an enforcement suit against appellants, they would then have a full 

opportunity to present their constitutional arguments de novo to a federal court 

before they could be subject to any penalties. See generally 2 U.S.C. 

§ 437g(a)(4)-(6). That distant eventuality is not imminent. 

C. The Requested Preliminary Injunction Would Substantially 

Harm the Commission and the Public 

 “In exercising their sound discretion, courts of equity should pay particular 

regard for the public consequences in employing the extraordinary remedy of 

injunction.” Winter, 129 S. Ct. at 376-77 (internal quotation marks and citation 

omitted). Permitting SpeechNow to evade the Act’s individual and aggregate 

limits on contributions to political committees would substantially injure the public 

and the Commission. Both have a strong interest in enforcing the federal 

campaign finance laws, thereby preventing corruption and the appearance of 

corruption. SpeechNow failed to establish that the requested preliminary 

injunction would be unlikely to cause these harms or that any non-self-inflicted 

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harm to SpeechNow would outweigh the harms to the public and the Commission. 

See CityFed. Fin. Corp. v. OTS, 58 F.3d 738, 746 (D.C. Cir. 1995). 

 The provisions challenged here have been on the books for more than thirty 

years. Indeed, Congress enacted the definition of “political committee” now found 

in 2 U.S.C. § 431(4) in 1971.19 The individual contribution limits in 2 U.S.C. 

§§ 441a(a)(1)(C) and 441a(a)(3)(B) were enacted in 1974 and 1976.20 The 

Supreme Court generally upheld the Act’s contribution limits in Buckley in 1976. 

 A “presumption of constitutionality . . . attaches to every Act of Congress,” 

and that presumption is “an equity to be considered in favor of . . . [the 

government] in balancing hardships.” Walters v. Nat’l Assn. of Radiation 

Survivors, 468 U.S. 1323, 1324 (1984). As Chief Justice Rehnquist stated in the 

similar context of a requested injunction pending appeal in a First Amendment 

case, “[J]udicial power to stay an act of Congress, like judicial power to hold that 

act unconstitutional, is an awesome responsibility calling for the utmost 

circumspection in its exercise.” Turner Broad. System, 507 U.S. at 1301 (1993) 

(Rehnquist, C.J., in chambers) (internal quotation omitted). 

 

19 Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971, Pub. L. No. 92-225, §§ 301-306, 

86 Stat. 3, 11-16 (Feb. 7, 1972). 

20 Federal Election Campaign Act Amendments of 1974, Pub. L. No. 93-443, 

§ 101, 88 Stat. 1263 (Oct. 15, 1974); Federal Election Campaign Act Amendments 

of 1976, Pub. L. No. 94-283, Title I, § 112(2), 90 Stat. 475 (May 11, 1976). 

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 A temporary lifting of the Act’s contribution limits during the 2010 election 

cycle, even limited to SpeechNow, would undermine the public’s confidence in the 

integrity of the federal campaign financing system. The harm in allowing 

unlimited contributions to a political committee cannot be undone. 

 As Justice Rehnquist explained, “any time a State is enjoined by a court 

from effectuating statutes enacted by representatives of its people, it suffers . . . 

injury.” New Motor Vehicle Bd. of Calif. v. Orrin W. Fox Co., 434 U.S. 1345, 

1351 (1977) (Rehnquist, J., in chambers). The Commission and the public are 

similarly harmed when a court proscribes enforcement of a federal statute. 

CONCLUSION 

 For the foregoing reasons, this Court should affirm the decision below. 

Respectfully submitted, 

Thomasenia P. Duncan 

General Counsel 

tduncan@fec.gov 

/s/ David Kolker

David Kolker 

Associate General Counsel 

dkolker@fec.gov 

Kevin Deeley 

Assistant General Counsel 

kdeeley@fec.gov 

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Vivien Clair 

Attorney 

vclair@fec.gov 

Steve Hajjar 

Attorney 

shajjar@fec.gov 

FEDERAL ELECTION COMMISSION 

999 E Street, N.W. 

Washington, D.C. 20463 

September 23, 2009 (202) 694-1650 

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CERTIFICATE OF COMPLIANCE 

This brief complies with the type-volume limitation of Fed. R. App. P. 

32(a)(7)(B) because the brief contains 13,936 words, excluding the parts of the 

brief exempted by Fed. R. App. P. 32(a)(7)(B)(iii). 

 The brief also complies with the typeface requirements of Fed. R. App. P. 

32(a)(5) and the type-style requirements of Fed. R. App. P 32(a)(6) because the 

brief uses the proportionally spaced typeface Microsoft Word 14-point Times New 

Roman. 

/s/ David Kolker

 David Kolker 

 Associate General Counsel 

 Federal Election Commission 

64 

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65 

CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE 

 I hereby certify that on this 23rd day of September 2009, I caused the Federal 

Election Commission’s brief in SpeechNow.org, et al. v. FEC, No. 08-5223, to be 

filed with the Clerk of the Court by the electronic CM/ECF System. I further 

certify that I also caused the requisite number of paper copies of the brief to be 

filed with the Clerk. 

 I also certify that on this date, I caused to be served two paper copies of the 

Commission’s brief by next-day delivery service on the following counsel for the 

appellants: 

Steven M. Simpson, Esq. 

Institute for Justice 

901 N. Glebe Road, Suite 900 

Arlington, VA 22203. 

September 23, 2009 /s/ David Kolker

David Kolker 

Associate General Counsel 

Federal Election Commission 

Case: 08-5223 Document: 1207856 Filed: 09/23/2009 Page: 120