Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/boundvolumes/524bv.pdf
Page Number: 58

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Cite as: 524 U. S. 11 (1998)

13

Opinion of the Court

tures” that could qualify it as a “political committee.”
If it decides that
the communications here do not qualify, then the lower courts can still
evaluate the signiﬁcance of the communicative context in which the case
arises.
If, on the other hand, it decides that they do qualify, the matter
will become moot. Pp. 26–29.

101 F. 3d 731, vacated and remanded.

Breyer, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which Rehnquist,
C. J., and Stevens, Kennedy, Souter, and Ginsburg, JJ., joined.
Scalia, J., ﬁled a dissenting opinion, in which O(cid:146)Connor and Thomas, JJ.,
joined, post, p. 29.

Solicitor General Waxman argued the cause for the
United States. With him on the briefs were Acting Solici-
tor General Dellinger, Malcolm L. Stewart, Lawrence M.
Noble, Richard B. Bader, and David Kolker.

Daniel M. Schember argued the cause for respondents.

With him on the brief was Abdeen Jabara.*

Justice Breyer delivered the opinion of the Court.
The Federal Election Commission (FEC) has determined
that the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC)
is not a “political committee” as deﬁned by the Federal Elec-
tion Campaign Act of 1971 (FECA or Act), 86 Stat. 11,
as amended, 2 U. S. C. § 431(4), and, for that reason, the
FEC has refused to require AIPAC to make disclosures re-
garding its membership, contributions, and expenditures
that FECA would otherwise require. We hold that re-
spondents, a group of voters, have standing to challenge the

*Briefs of amici curiae urging reversal were ﬁled for the American
Civil Liberties Union et al. by Joel M. Gora, Steven R. Shapiro, and Ar-
thur N. Eisenberg; and for the National Right to Life Committee, Inc., by
James Bopp, Jr.

A. Stephen Hut, Jr., Roger M. Witten, Jeffrey P. Singdahlsen, and Don-
ald J. Simon ﬁled a brief for Common Cause as amicus curiae urging
afﬁrmance.

Briefs of amici curiae were ﬁled for the American Israel Public Affairs
Committee by Theodore B. Olson, Mel Levine, Thomas G. Hungar, and
Philip Friedman; and for the Brennan Center for Justice by Burt
Neuborne.