Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/boundvolumes/558bv.pdf
Page Number: 499.0

338  CITIZENS  UNITED  v.  FEDERAL  ELECTION  COMM’N 

Opinion of the Court 

must appoint a treasurer, forward donations to the treasurer 
promptly,  keep  detailed  records  of  the  identities  of  the  per­
sons  making  donations,  preserve  receipts  for  three  years, 
and ﬁle an organization statement and report changes to this 
information  within  10  days.  See  id.,  at  330–332  (quoting 
MCFL, 479 U. S., at 253–254 (opinion of Brennan, J.)). 

And  that  is  just  the  beginning.  PACs  must  ﬁle  detailed 
monthly  reports  with  the  FEC,  which  are  due  at  different 
times  depending  on  the  type  of  election  that  is  about  to 
occur: 

“ ‘These reports must contain information regarding the 
amount  of  cash  on  hand;  the  total  amount  of  receipts, 
detailed  by  10  different  categories;  the  identiﬁcation  of 
each  political  committee  and  candidate’s  authorized  or 
afﬁliated  committee making  contributions, and  any per­
sons  making  loans,  providing  rebates,  refunds,  divi­
dends,  or  interest  or  any  other  offset  to  operating  ex­
penditures  in  an  aggregate  amount  over  $200;  the  total 
amount  of  all  disbursements,  detailed  by  12  different 
categories; the names of all authorized or afﬁliated com­
mittees  to  whom  expenditures  aggregating  over  $200 
have  been  made;  persons  to  whom  loan  repayments  or 
refunds  have  been  made;  the  total  sum  of  all  contribu­
tions, operating expenses, outstanding debts and obliga­
tions, and the settlement terms of the retirement of any 
debt  or  obligation.’ ”  540  U. S.,  at  331–332  (quoting 
MCFL, supra, at 253–254). 

PACs  have  to  comply  with  these  regulations  just  to  speak. 
This  might  explain  why  fewer  than  2,000  of  the  millions 
of  corporations  in  this  country  have  PACs.  See  Brief  for 
Seven  Former  Chairmen  of  FEC  et  al.  as  Amici  Curiae  11 
(citing FEC,  Summary of PAC Activity  1990–2006, online at 
http://www.fec.gov/press/press2007/20071009pac/sumhistory 
.pdf (as visited Jan. 18, 2010, and available in Clerk of Court’s 
case  ﬁle));  IRS,  Statistics  of  Income:  2006,  Corporation  In­