Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/boundvolumes/558bv.pdf
Page Number: 576

Cite as: 558 U. S. 310 (2010) 

415 

Opinion of Stevens, J. 

ration.  Third,  it  claims  that  Austin  and  McConnell  were 
radical  outliers  in  our  First  Amendment  tradition  and  our 
campaign  ﬁnance  jurisprudence.  Each  of  these  claims  is 
wrong. 

The So-Called “Ban” 

Pervading  the  Court’s  analysis  is  the  ominous  image  of  a 
“categorical  ba[n]”  on  corporate  speech.  Ante,  at  361.  In­
deed,  the  majority  invokes  the  specter  of  a  “ban”  on  nearly 
every  page  of  its  opinion.  Ante,  at  319,  321,  324,  327,  328, 
329,  330,  333,  337,  339,  340,  343,  344,  345,  346,  347,  349,  351, 
354,  355,  358,  360,  361,  362,  364,  369.  This  characterization 
is highly misleading, and needs to be corrected. 

In  fact  it  already  has  been.  Our  cases  have  repeatedly 
pointed  out  that,  “[c]ontrary  to  the  [majority’s]  critical  as­
sumptions,” the statutes upheld in Austin and McConnell do 
“not impose an absolute ban on all forms of corporate politi­
cal  spending.”  Austin,  494  U. S.,  at  660;  see  also  McCon­
nell,  540  U. S.,  at  203–204;  Beaumont,  539  U. S.,  at  162–163. 
For  starters,  both  statutes  provide  exemptions  for  PACs, 
separate  segregated  funds  established  by  a  corporation 
for  political  purposes.  See  2  U. S. C.  § 441b(b)(2)(C);  Mich. 
Comp.  Laws  Ann.  § 169.255  (West  2005).  “The  ability  to 
form  and  administer  separate  segregated  funds,”  we  ob­
served in McConnell, “has provided corporations and unions 
with  a  constitutionally  sufﬁcient  opportunity  to  engage  in 
express  advocacy.  That  has  been  this  Court’s  unanimous 
view.”  540 U. S., at 203. 

Under  BCRA,  any  corporation’s  “stockholders  and  their 
families  and  its  executive  or  administrative  personnel  and 
their families” can pool their resources to ﬁnance electioneer­
ing  communications.  2  U. S. C.  § 441b(b)(4)(A)(i).  A  sig­
niﬁcant  and  growing  number  of  corporations  avail  them­
selves of this option; 29  during the most recent election cycle, 

29 See  FEC,  Number  of  Federal  PAC’s  Increases,  http://fec.gov/press/ 

press2008/20080812paccount.shtml.