Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/21pdf/21-12_m6hn.pdf
Page Number: 8.0

Cite as:  596 U. S. ____ (2022) 

3 

Opinion of the Court 

history.  Before election day, Cruz loaned $260,000 to the 
other appellee here, Ted Cruz for Senate (Committee).  At 
the end of election day, however, the Committee was in the 
red  by  approximately  $340,000.  App.  285.  It  eventually
began  repaying  Cruz’s  loans,  but  by  that  time  the  20-day 
post-election  window  for  repaying  amounts  over  $250,000
had closed.  See 11 CFR §§116.11(c)(1), (2).  The Committee 
accordingly repaid Cruz only $250,000, leaving $10,000 of 
his personal loans unpaid. 

Cruz and the Committee filed this action in the United 
States District Court for the District of Columbia, alleging 
that  Section  304  of  BCRA  violates  the  First  Amendment. 
They also raised challenges to the FEC’s implementing reg-
ulation, 11 CFR §116.11.  A three-judge panel was convened 
to hear the case.  See BCRA §403(a)(1), 116 Stat. 113; see 
also 28 U. S. C. §2284.

The  three-judge  District  Court  granted  Cruz  and  his 
Committee  summary  judgment  on  their  constitutional 
claim, holding that the loan-repayment limitation burdens 
political  speech  without  sufficient  justification. 
  542 
F. Supp. 3d 1 (2021).  The District Court also ordered that 
appellees’  challenges  to  the  regulation,  previously  held  in
abeyance, be dismissed as moot.  The Government appealed 
directly to this Court, as authorized by 28 U. S. C. §1253.
We postponed consideration of our jurisdiction.  594 U. S. 
___ (2021). 

II 
The Constitution limits federal courts to deciding “Cases”
and “Controversies.”  Art. III, §2.  Among other things, that 
limitation requires a plaintiff to have standing.  The requi-
site elements of Article III standing are well established: A 
plaintiff must show (1) an injury in fact, (2) fairly traceable 
to the challenged conduct of the defendant, (3) that is likely 
to be redressed by the requested relief.  Lujan v. Defenders 
of Wildlife, 504 U. S. 555, 560–561 (1992).