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524US1

Unit: $U72

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FEDERAL ELECTION COMM’N v. AKINS

Opinion of the Court

Commission’s determination in court, and we remand this
case for further proceedings.

I

In light of our disposition of this case, we believe it neces-
sary to describe its procedural background in some detail.
As commonly understood, the FECA seeks to remedy any
actual or perceived corruption of the political process in sev-
important ways. The Act imposes limits upon the
eral
amounts that individuals, corporations, “political commit-
tees” (including political action committees), and political
parties can contribute to a candidate for federal political of-
§§ 441a(a), 441a(b), 441b. The Act also imposes limits
ﬁce.
on the amount these individuals or entities can spend in co-
ordination with a candidate.
(It treats these expenditures
as “contributions to” a candidate for purposes of the Act.)
§ 441a(a)(7)(B)(i). As originally written, the Act set limits
upon the total amount that a candidate could spend of his
own money, and upon the amounts that other individuals,
corporations, and “political committees” could spend inde-
pendent of a candidate—though the Court found that cer-
tain of these last-mentioned limitations violated the First
Amendment. Buckley v. Valeo, 424 U. S. 1, 39–59 (1976)
(per curiam); Federal Election Comm’n v. National Con-
servative Political Action Comm., 470 U. S. 480, 497 (1985);
cf. Colorado Republican Federal Campaign Comm. v. Fed-
eral Election Comm’n, 518 U. S. 604, 613–619 (1996) (opinion
of Breyer, J.).

This case concerns requirements in the Act that extend
beyond these better-known contribution and expenditure
limitations.
In particular, the Act imposes extensive rec-
ordkeeping and disclosure requirements upon groups that
fall within the Act’s deﬁnition of a “political committee.”
Those groups must register with the FEC, appoint a treas-
urer, keep names and addresses of contributors, track the
amount and purpose of disbursements, and ﬁle complex FEC