Source: https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/453/182/
Timestamp: 2019-04-23 04:54:35+00:00

Document:
One provision of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (Act), 2 U.S.C. § 441a(a)(1)(C), prohibits individuals and unincorporated associations from contributing more than $5,000 per calendar year to any multicandidate political committee. A related provision, § 441a(f), makes it unlawful for political committees knowingly to accept contributions exceeding the $5,000 limit. Appellant California Medical Association (CMA) is a not-for-profit unincorporated association of doctors, and appellant California Medical Political Action Committee (CALPAC) is a political committee formed by CMA and registered with appellee Federal Election Commission (FEC). When CMA and CALPAC were notified of an impending enforcement proceeding by the FEC for alleged violations of §§ 441a(a)(1)(C) and 441a(f), they, together with individual members, filed a declaratory judgment action in Federal District Court challenging the constitutionality of these provisions. Subsequently, the FEC filed its enforcement proceeding in the same District Court, and CMA and CALPAC pleaded as affirmative defenses the same constitutional claims raised in their declaratory judgment action. Pursuant to the special expedited review provisions of the Act, § 437h(a), the District Court, while the enforcement proceeding was still pending, certified the constitutional questions raised in the declaratory judgment action to the Court of Appeals, which rejected the constitutional claims and upheld the challenged $5,000 limit on annual contributions. Appellants sought review on direct appeal in this Court pursuant to § 437h(b).
Held: The judgment is affirmed. Pp. 453 U. S. 187-201; 453 U. S. 201-204.
failed to provide any mechanism for coordinating cases in which the same constitutional issues are raised by the same parties in both a declaratory judgment action and an enforcement proceeding, as here, a direct appeal to this Court under § 437h(b) should be limited to situations in which no enforcement proceedings are pending, since otherwise litigants, like appellants here, could disrupt and delay enforcement proceedings and undermine the functioning of the federal courts. Neither the statutory language nor legislative history of §§ 437g and 437h indicates that Congress intended such a limitation. Pp. 453 U. S. 187-192.
2. Section 441a(a)(1)(C) does not violate the equal protection component of the Fifth Amendment on the ground, alleged by appellants, that, because a corporation's or labor union's contributions to a segregated political fund are unlimited under the Act, an unincorporated association's contribution to a multicandidate political committee cannot be limited without violating equal protection. Appellants' contention ignores the fact that the Act as a whole imposes far fewer restrictions on individuals and unincorporated associations than it does on corporations and unions. The differing restrictions placed on individuals and unincorporated associations, on the one hand, and on corporations and unions, on the other, reflect a congressional judgment that these entities have differing structures and purposes and that they therefore may require different forms of regulation in order to protect the integrity of the political process. Pp. 453 U. S. 200-201.
views and candidacies of a number of candidates. Moreover, the challenged contribution restriction, contrary to appellants' claim, is an appropriate means by which Congress could seek to protect the integrity of the contribution restrictions upheld in Buckley v. Valeo. Pp. 453 U. S. 193-199.
JUSTICE BLACKMUN concluded that the challenged contribution limitation does not violate the First Amendment because it is no broader than necessary to achieve the governmental interest in preventing actual or potential corruption. Pp. 453 U. S. 201-204.
MARSHALL, J., announced the Court's judgment and delivered the opinion of the Court with respect to Parts I, II, and IV, in which BRENNAN, WHITE, BLACKMUN, and STEVENS, JJ., joined, and an opinion with respect to Part III, in which BRENNAN, WHITE, and STEVENS, JJ., joined. BLACKMUN, J., filed an opinion concurring in part and concurring in the judgment, post, p. 453 U. S. 201. STEWART, J., filed a dissenting opinion, in which BURGER, C.J., and POWELL and REHNQUIST, JJ., joined, post, p. 453 U. S. 204.
JUSTICE MARSHALL delivered the opinion of the Court with respect to Parts I, II, and IV, and delivered an opinion with respect to Part III, in which JUSTICE BRENNAN, JUSTICE WHITE, and JUSTICE STEVENS joined.
we affirm the judgment of the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
In October, 1978, the Federal Election Commission found "reason to believe" that CMA had violated the Act by making annual contributions to CALPAC in excess of $5,000, and that CALPAC had unlawfully accepted such contributions. When informal conciliation efforts failed, the Commission, in April, 1979 ,authorized its staff to institute a civil enforcement action against CMA and CALPAC to secure compliance with the contribution limitations of the Act. In early May, 1979, after receiving formal notification of the Commission's impending enforcement action, CMA and CALPAC, together with two individual members of these organizations, filed this declaratory judgment action in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California challenging the constitutionality of the statutory contribution limitations upon which the Commission's enforcement action was to be based. Several weeks later, the Commission filed its enforcement action in the same District Court. In this second suit, CMA and CALPAC pleaded as affirmative defenses the same constitutional claims raised in their declaratory judgment action.
On May 17, 1979, pursuant to the special expedited review provisions of the Act set forth in 2 U.S.C. § 437h (1976 ed. and Supp. III), [Footnote 4] the District Court certified the constitutional questions raised in appellants' declaratory judgment action to the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. In the meantime, pretrial discovery and preparation in the Commission's enforcement action continued in the District Court. In May, 1980, a divided Court of Appeals, sitting en banc, rejected appellants' constitutional claims and upheld the $5,000 limit on annual contributions by unincorporated associations to multicandidate political committees. 641 F.2d 619. Appellants sought review of that determination in this Court, again pursuant to the special jurisdictional provisions of 2 U.S.C.
and(10) (1976 ed., Supp. III). The judgments of the district courts in such cases are appealable to the courts of appeals, with final review in this Court available upon certiorari or certification. § 437g(a)(9).
"The Commission, the national committee of any political party, or any individual eligible to vote in any election for the office of President may institute such actions in the appropriate district court of the United States, including actions for declaratory judgment, as may be appropriate to construe the constitutionality of any provision of this Act. The district court immediately shall certify all questions of constitutionality of this Act to the United States court of appeals for the circuit involved, which shall hear the matter sitting en banc."
The statute further provides that decisions of the courts of appeals on such certified questions may be reviewed in this Court on direct appeal, § 437h(b), and it directs both the courts of appeals and this Court to expedite the disposition of such cases, § 437h(c).
this case should have declined to certify appellants' constitutional claims to the Court of Appeal in light of the Commission's pending enforcement action against CMA and CALPAC. On this basis, we are urged by the Commission to dismiss the appeal in this case for want of jurisdiction.
statute proposed by the Commission would directly undermine the very purpose of Congress in enacting § 437h. It is undisputed that this provision was included in the 1974 Amendments to the Act to provide a mechanism for the rapid resolution of constitutional challenges to the Act. These questions may arise regardless of whether a Commission enforcement proceeding is contemplated. Yet, under the Commission's approach, even the most fundamental and meritorious constitutional challenge to the Act could not be reviewed pursuant to § 437h, but instead could be considered only pursuant to the more limited procedure set forth in § 437g, [Footnote 12] if this question also happened to be raised in a Commission enforcement action. If Congress had intended to remove a whole category of constitutional challenges from the purview of § 437h, thereby significantly limiting the usefulness of that provision, it surely would have made such a limitation explicit.
restrictions did not directly infringe on the ability of contributors to express their own political views, and that such limitations served the important governmental interests in preventing the corruption or appearance of corruption of the political process that might result if such contributions were not restrained. Id. at 424 U. S. 23-38.
Although the $5,000 annual limit imposed by § 441a(a)(1)(C) on the amount that individuals and unincorporated associations may contribute to political committees is, strictly speaking, a contribution limitation, appellants seek to bring their challenge to this provision within the reasoning of Buckley. First, they contend that § 441a(a)(1)(C) is akin to an unconstitutional expenditure limitation because it restricts the ability of CMA to engage in political speech through a political committee, CALPAC. Appellants further contend that even if the challenged provision is viewed as a contribution limitation, it is qualitatively different from the contribution restrictions we upheld in Buckley. Specifically, appellants assert that, because the contributions here flow to a political committee, rather than to a candidate, the danger of actual or apparent corruption of the political process recognized by this Court in Buckley as a sufficient justification for contribution restrictions is not present in this case.
this is the manner in which CMA has chosen to engage in political speech.
We would naturally be hesitant to conclude that CMA's determination to fund CALPAC rather than to engage directly in political advocacy is entirely unprotected by the First Amendment. [Footnote 16] Nonetheless, the "speech by proxy" that CMA seeks to achieve through its contributions to CALPAC is not the sort of political advocacy that this Court in Buckley found entitled to full First Amendment protection. CALPAC, as a multicandidate political committee, receives contributions from more than 50 persons during a calendar year. 2 U.S.C. § 441a(a)(4). Thus, appellants' claim that CALPAC is merely the mouthpiece of CMA is untenable. CALPAC, instead, is a separate legal entity that receives funds from multiple sources and that engages in independent political advocacy. Of course, CMA would probably not contribute to CALPAC unless it agreed with the views espoused by CALPAC, but this sympathy of interests alone does not convert CALPAC's speech into that of CMA.
"While contributions may result in political expression if spent by a candidate or an association to present views to the voters, the transformation of contributions into political debate involves speech by someone other than the contributor."
Appellants also challenge the restrictions on contributions to political committees on the ground that they violate the equal protection component of the Fifth Amendment. Under the statute, corporations and labor unions may pay for the establishment, administration, and solicitation expenses of a "separate segregated fund to be utilized for political purposes." 2 U.S.C. § 441b(b)(2)(C). Contributions by these groups to such funds are not limited by the statute. 2 U.S.C. § 431(8)(B)(vi) (1976 ed., Supp. III). Appellants assert that a corporation's or a union's contribution to its segregated political fund is directly analogous to an unincorporated association's contributions to a multicandidate political committee. Thus, they conclude that, because contributions are unlimited in the former situation, they cannot be limited in the latter without violating equal protection.
and unions, however, may make only the limited contributions authorized by § 441b(b)(2). Furthermore, individuals and unincorporated associations may contribute to candidates, to candidates' committees, to national party committees and to all other political committees, while corporations and unions are absolutely barred from making any such contributions. In addition, multicandidate political committees are generally unrestricted in the manner and scope of their solicitations; the segregated funds that unions and corporations may establish pursuant to § 441b(b)(2)(C) are carefully limited in this regard. §§ 441b(b)(3), 441b(b)(4). The differing restrictions placed on individuals and unincorporated associations, on the one hand, and on unions and corporations, on the other, reflect a judgment by Congress that these entities have differing structures and purposes, and that they therefore may require different forms of regulation in order to protect the integrity of the electoral process. Appellants do not challenge any of the restrictions on the corporate and union political activity, yet these restrictions entirely undermine appellants' claim that, because of §441a(a)(1)(C), the Act discriminates against individuals and unincorporated associations in the exercise of their First Amendment rights. Cf. Buckley, 424 U.S. at 424 U. S. 95-99.
Accordingly, we conclude that the $5,000 limitation on the amount that persons may contribute to multicandidate political committees violates neither the First nor the Fifth Amendment. The judgment of the Court of Appeals is therefore affirmed.
"any committee . . . which receives contributions aggregating in excess of $1,000 during a calendar year or which makes expenditures aggregating in excess of $1,000 during a calendar year."
"political committee which has been registered under section 433 of this title for a period of not less than 6 months, which has received contributions from more than 50 persons, and . . . has made contributions to 5 or more candidates for Federal Office."
Section 441a(a)(1)(C) provides in pertinent part that " [n]o person shall make contributions . . . to any other political committee in any calendar year which, in the aggregate, exceed $5,000." The Act defines the term "person" to include "an individual, partnership, committee, association, corporation, labor organization, or any other organization or group of persons." 2 U.S.C. § 431(11) (1976 ed., Supp. III). Corporations and labor organizations, however, are prohibited by 2 U.S.C. § 441b(a) from making any contributions to political committees other than the special segregated funds authorized by § 441b(b)(2)(C), and hence these entities are not governed by § 441a(a)(1)(C) .
This section provides that "[n]o . . . political committee shall knowingly accept any contribution or make any expenditure in violation of the provisions of this section."
In the meantime, the District Court has entered judgment in favor of the Commission in its enforcement action against CMA and CALPAC. Federal Election Comm'n v. California Medical Assn., 502 F.Supp.196 (1980) .
Initially, we reject the Commission's suggestion that appellants may lack standing to raise the claims involved here. The grant of standing under § 437h, which this Court has held to be limited only by the constraints of Art. III of the Constitution, Buckley v. Valeo, 424 U. S. 1, 424 U. S. 11 (1976) (per curium), authorizes actions to be brought by the Commission, the national committee of a political party, and individuals eligible to vote in federal elections. The individual appellants in this case fall within this last category, and, as members and officers of CMA and CALPAC, have a sufficiently concrete stake in this controversy to establish standing to raise the constitutional claims at issue here. Accordingly, we do not address the question whether parties not enumerated in § 437h's grant of standing, such as CMA and CALPAC, may nonetheless raise constitutional claims pursuant to that section. Arlington Heights v. Metropolitan Housing Dev. Corp., 429 U. S. 252, 429 U. S. 264, n. 9 (1977). Compare Martin Tractor Co. v. Federal Election Comm'n, 460 F.Supp. 1017 (DC 1978), aff'd, 200 U.S.App.D.C. 322, 627 F.2d 375, cert denied sub nom. National Chamber Alliance for Politics v. Federal Election Comm'n, 449 U.S. 954 (1980), with Bread Political Action Committee v. Federal Election Comm'n, 591 F.2d 29(CA7 1979), appeal pending, No. 80-1481.
"It merely provides for expeditious review of the constitutional questions I have raised. I am sure we will all agree that, if, in fact, there is a serious question as to the constitutionality of this legislation, it is in the interest of everyone to have the question determined by the Supreme Court at the earliest possible time."
"I believe within this conference report there are at least 100 items questionable from a constitutional standpoint. . . ."
"I do call . . . attention . . . to the fact that any individual under this bill has a direct method to raise these questions and to have those considered as quickly as possible by the Supreme Court."
Although the Commission now contends that § 437h actions may not be maintained simultaneously with § 437g proceedings raising the same constitutional claims, it has in the past argued that the two review provisions are independent of each other, and that § 437h actions could be brought by defendants in a § 437g proceeding to adjudicate any constitutional claims arising during the course of such proceedings. Federal Election Comm'n v. Lance, 635 F.2d 1132, 1137, n. 3 (CA5 1981); Federal Election Comm'n v. Central Long Island Tax Reform Immediately Committee, 616 F.2d 45, 48-49 (CA2 1980).
Even if the Commission's proposed construction of the statute were accepted, it remains unclear whether we would be required to dismiss this appeal. The only defendants in the Commission's § 437g enforcement proceeding are CMA and CALPAC. However, the plaintiffs in the § 437h action include, along with CALPAC and CMA, two individual doctors. These individuals have standing to bring this action, see n. 6, supra, and the Commission apparently does not contend that such parties, who are not involved in a pending or ongoing enforcement proceeding, are barred from invoking the § 437h procedure.
The legislative history of the 1974 Amendments is silent on the interaction of the two provisions. However, the brief discussion in Congress of § 437h indicates that it was intended to cover all serious constitutional challenges to the Act. See n 7, supra.
The judgments of the courts of appeals in § 437g cases are reviewable in this Court only upon certification or writ of certiorari. § 437g(a)(9). In contrast, the judgments of the courts of appeals in § 437h proceedings may be directly appealed to this Court. § 437h(b).
In reaching a contrary conclusion, the dissent today engages in a most unusual method of statutory interpretation. Although § 437h expressly requires a district court to "immediately . . . certify all questions of the constitutionality" of the Act to the court of appeals, and although the legislative history of that provision clearly indicates Congress' intent to have constitutional challenges to the Act resolved through the § 437h procedure, the dissent blithely concludes that "neither the language of the Act nor its legislative history directly addresses the issue" before the Court today. Post at 453 U. S. 205. Having so neatly swept aside the relevant statutory language and history, the dissent proceeds to rewrite the statute in a manner it perceives as necessary to insure the "proper enforcement of the Act and . . . the sound functioning of the federal courts. . . ." Ibid. Under this reconstruction, § 437h may not be invoked by a party who has been "formally notified of a § 437g proceeding"; indeed, that provision may not even be used by those with an "identity of . . . interests" with a party who has been so notified. Post at 453 U. S. 208. While the concepts of "formal notification" and "identity of interests" which the dissent seeks to engraft on § 437h might well benefit the Commission in its effort to enforce the Act, and might relieve the courts of appeals of the burden of some § 437h actions, the task before us is not to improve the statute, but to construe it. We have already acknowledged that the statute, as we interpret it today, is subject to the criticisms raised by the dissent. Supra at 453 U. S. 190. The remedy, however, lies with Congress.
Moreover, in its effort to justify rewriting § 437h, the dissent exaggerates the burden § 437h actions have placed on the federal courts. To date, there have been only a handful of cases certified to the Courts of Appeals under this procedure. Anderson v. Federal Election Comm'n, 634 F.2d 3 (CA1 1980); Federal Election Comm'n v. Central Long Island Tax Reform Immediately Committee, 616 F.2d 45 (CA2 1980); Republican National Committee v. Federal Election Comm'n, 616 F.2d 1 (CA2 1979), summarily aff'd, 445 U.S. 955 (1980); Federal Election Comm'n v. Lance, 635 F.2d 1132 (CA5 1981); Bread Political Action Committee v. Federal Election Comm'n, 591 F.2d 29 (CA7 1979), appeal pending, No. 80-1481; Buckley v. Valeo, 171 U.S.App.D.C. 172, 519 F.2d 821 (1975), aff'd in part and rev'd in part, 424 U. S. 424 U.S. 1 (1976); Clark v. Valeo, 18 U.S.App.D.C. 21, 559 F.2d 642 (1972), summarily aff'd sub nom. Clark v. Kimmitt, 431 U.S. 950 (1977); Martin Tractor Co. v. Federal Election Comm'n, 200 U.S.App.D.C. 322, 627 F.2d 375, cert. denied sub nom. National Chamber Alliance for Politics v. Federal Election Comm'n, 449 U.S. 954 (1980). Moreover, the Federal Election Campaign Act is not an unlimited fountain of constitutional questions, and it is thus reasonable to assume that resort to § 437h will decrease in the future. Under these circumstances, we do not believe that § 437h poses any significant threat to the effective functioning of the federal courts.
While we thus decline to adopt the Commission's view, we believe that its concerns about the potential abuse of § 437h are, in large part, answered by the other restrictions on the use of that section. The unusual procedures embodied in this section are, at the very least, circumscribed by the constitutional limitations on the jurisdiction of the federal courts. Buckley v. Valeo, 424 U.S. at 424 U. S. 11. A party seeking to invoke § 437h must have standing to raise the constitutional claim. Ibid. Furthermore, § 437h cannot properly be used to compel federal courts to decide constitutional challenges in cases where the resolution of unsettled questions of statutory interpretation may remove the need for constitutional adjudication. Federal Election Comm'n v. Central Long Island Tax Reform Immediately Committee, supra, at 51-53. See Nixon v. Administrator of General Services, 433 U. S. 425, 433 U. S. 438 (1977); Thorpe v. Housing Authority, 393 U. S. 268, 393 U. S. 283-284 (1969); Crowell v. Benson, 285 U. S. 22, 285 U. S. 62 (1932). Moreover, we do not construe § 437h to require certification of constitutional claims that are frivolous, see, e.g., Gifford v. Congress, 452 F.Supp. 802(ED Cal.1978), cf. California Water Service Co. v. City of Redding, 304 U. S. 252, 304 U. S. 254-255 (1938)(per curiam), or that involve purely hypothetical applications of the statute. See, e.g., Clark v. Valeo, supra; Martin Tractor Co. v. Federal Election Comm'n, supra, 627 F.2d at 384-386, 388-390. Finally, as a practical matter, immediate adjudication of constitutional claims through a § 437h proceeding would be improper in cases where the resolution of such questions required a fully developed factual record. See, e.g., Anderson v. Federal Election Comm'n, supra; Martin Tractor Co. v. Federal Election Comm'n, supra, at 325, 627 F.2d at 378; Mott v. Federal Election Comm'n, 494 F.Supp. 131, 135(DC 1980). These restrictions, in our view, enable a district court to prevent the abuses of § 437h envisioned by the Commission.
None of these considerations, however, pertains to this case. At least the individual appellants have standing to bring this challenge. See n 6, supra. Additionally, appellants here expressly challenge the statute on its face, and there is no suggestion that the statute is susceptible to an interpretation that would remove the need for resolving the constitutional questions raised by appellants. Finally, as evidenced by the divided en banc court below, the issues here are neither insubstantial nor settled. We therefore conclude that this case is properly before us pursuant to § 437h.
Specifically, this Court upheld the $1,000 limit on the amount a person could contribute to a candidate or his authorized political committees, 2 U.S.C. § 441a(a)(1)(A), the $5,000 limit on the contributions by a multicandidate political committee to a candidate or his authorized political committee, 2 U.S.C. § 441a(a)(2)(A), and the overall $25,000 annual ceiling on individual contributions, 2 U.S.C. § 441a(a)(3).
In Buckley, this Court concluded that the act of contribution involved some limited element of protected speech.
"A contribution serves as a general expression of support for a candidate and his views, but does not communicate the underlying basis for the support. The quantity of communication by the contributor does not increase perceptibly with the size of his contribution, since the expression rests solely on the undifferentiated, symbolic act of contributing. At most, the size of the contribution provides a very rough index of the intensity of the contributor's support for the candidate. A limitation on the amount of money a person may give to a candidate or campaign organization thus involves little direct restraint on his political communication, for it permits the symbolic expression of support evidenced by a contribution, but does not in any way infringe the contributor's freedom to discuss candidates and issues."
424 U.S. at 424 U. S. 21(footnote omitted).
Under this analysis, CMA's contributions to CALPAC symbolize CMA's general approval of CALPAC's role in the political process. However, this attenuated form of speech does not resemble the direct political advocacy to which this Court in Buckley accorded substantial constitutional protection.
Amicus American Civil Liberties Union suggests that § 441a(a)(1)(C) would violate the First Amendment if construed to limit the amount individuals could jointly expend to express their political views. We need not consider this hypothetical application of the Act. The case before us involves the constitutionality of § 441a(a)(1)(C) as it applies to contributions to multicandidate political committees. Under the statute, these committees are distinct legal entities that annually receive contributions from over 50 persons and make contributions to 5 or more candidates for federal office. 2 U.S.C. § 441a(a)(4). Contributions to such committees are therefore distinguishable from expenditures made jointly by groups of individuals in order to express common political views.
"The conferees' decision to impose more precisely defined limitations on the amount an individual may contribute to a political committee, other than a candidate's committees, and to impose new limits on the amount a person or multicandidate committee may contribute to a political committee, other than candidates' committees, is predicated on the following considerations: first, these limits restrict the opportunity to circumvent the 1,000 and $5,000 limits on contributions to a candidate; second, these limits serve to assure that candidates' reports reveal the root source of the contributions the candidate has received; and third, these limitations minimize the adverse impact on the statutory scheme caused by political committees that appear to be separate entities pursuing their own ends, but are actually a means for advancing a candidate's campaign."
H.R.Conf.Rep. No. 94-1057, pp. 57-58 (1976).
"any gift, subscription, loan, advance, or deposit of money or anything of value . . . or . . . the payment by any person of compensation for the personal services of another person which are rendered to a political committee without charge for any purpose."
2 U.S.C. §§ 431(8)(A)(i),(ii) (1976 ed., Supp. III). Thus, contributions for administrative support clearly fall within the sorts of donations limited by § 441a(a)(1)(C). Appellants contend, however, that, because these contributions are earmarked for administrative support, they lack any potential for corrupting the political process. We disagree. If unlimited contributions for administrative support are permissible, individuals and groups like CMA could completely dominate the operations and contribution policies of independent political committees such as CALPAC. Moreover, if an individual or association was permitted to fund the entire operation of a political committee, all moneys solicited by that committee could be converted into contributions, the use of which might well be dictated by the committee's main supporter. In this manner, political committees would be able to influence the electoral process to an extent disproportionate to their public support, and far greater than the individual or group that finances the committee's operations would be able to do acting alone. In so doing, they could corrupt the political process in a manner that Congress, through its contribution restrictions, has sought to prohibit. We therefore conclude that § 441a(a)(1)(C) applies equally to all forms of contributions specified in § 431(8)(A), and assess appellants' constitutional claims from that perspective.
We also reject appellants' contention that, even if § 441a(a)(1)(C) is a valid means by which Congress could seek to prevent circumvention of the other contribution limitations embodied in the Act, it is superfluous, and therefore constitutionally defective because other antifraud provisions in the Act adequately serve this end. See, e.g., 2 U.S.C. §§ 441a(a)(7), 441a(a)(8). Because we conclude that the challenged limitation does not restrict the ability of individuals to engage in protected political advocacy, Congress was not required to select the least restrictive means of protecting the integrity of its legislative scheme. Instead, Congress could reasonably have concluded § 441a(a)(1)(C) was a useful supplement to the other antifraud provisions of the Act. Cf. Buckley v. Valeo, 424 U.S. at 424 U. S. 27-28 (rejecting contention that effective bribery and disclosure statutes eliminated need for contribution limitations).
I join Parts I, II, and IV of JUSTICE MARSHALL's opinion, which, to that extent, becomes an opinion for the Court.
"if the State demonstrates a sufficiently important interest and employs means closely drawn to avoid unnecessary abridgment of associational freedoms."
424 U.S. at 424 U. S. 25. See Note, The Unconstitutionality of Limitations on Contributions to Political Committees in the 1976 Federal Election Campaign Act Amendments, 86 Yale L.J. 953, 961-962 (1977).
interest in preventing apparent or actual political corruption. That this interest is important cannot be doubted. It is a closer question, however, whether the statute is narrowly drawn to advance that interest. Nonetheless, I conclude that contributions to multicandidate political committees may be limited to $5,000 per year as a means of preventing evasion of the limitations on contributions to a candidate or his authorized campaign committee upheld in Buckley. The statute challenged here is thus analogous to the $25,000 limitation on total contributions in a given year that Buckley held to be constitutional. 424 U.S. at 424 U. S. 38.
"[e]ffective advocacy of both public and private points of view, particularly controversial ones, is undeniably enhanced by group association. . . ."
is satisfied here, I concur in the result reached in Part III of JUSTICE MARSHALL's opinion.
JUSTICE STEWART, with whom THE CHIEF JUSTICE, JUSTICE POWELL, and JUSTICE REHNQUIST join, dissenting.
"[a]ny action brought under this subsection shall be advanced on the docket of the court in which filed, and put ahead of all other actions (other than other actions brought under this subsection or under section 437h of this title). "
"such actions in the appropriate district court of the United States, including actions for declaratory judgment, as may be appropriate to construe the constitutionality of any provision of this Act."
"[t]he district court immediately shall certify all questions of constitutionality of this Act to the United States court of appeals for the circuit involved, which shall hear the matter sitting en banc."
"any decision on a matter certified under subsection (a) of this section shall be reviewable by appeal directly to the Supreme Court of the United States."
"It shall be the duty of the court of appeals and of the Supreme Court of the United States to advance on the docket and to expedite to the greatest possible extent the disposition of any matter certified under subsection (a) of this section."
The Court today holds that a person who has received formal notification of an impending § 437g enforcement proceeding may nevertheless bring an action under § 437h raising precisely the same constitutional issues presented in the § 437g proceeding. This holding interferes, I think, with the proper enforcement of the Act and with the sound functioning of the federal courts in ways that Congress cannot have intended.
Although neither the language of the Act nor its legislative history directly addresses the issue resolved by the Court's holding, the structure of the Act itself expresses Congress' intent that § 437h is not to be available as a means of thwarting a § 437g enforcement proceeding. The Act provides for two separate kinds of proceedings with two separate purposes.
The first proceeding serves to prevent violations of the Act. The second makes possible prompt challenges to the constitutionality of the Act, more or less in the abstract.
"The delicately balanced scheme of procedures and remedies set out in the act is intended to be the exclusive means for vindicating the rights and declaring the duties stated therein."
120 Cong. Rec. 35134 (1974). In particular, in § 437g, Congress balanced in extensive detail the public's interest in an expeditious resolution of any § 437g question against the respondent's interest in fair procedures. Congress accordingly (1) specified the periods of time in which § 437g proceedings must be accomplished, (2) directed that § 437g cases need only be heard by ordinarily constituted panels in the courts of appeals, and (3) limited access to this Court to those cases certified to the Court and those cases which the Court chooses to review.
Under the Court's holding today, Congress' assessment of each of the cautiously limited rights contained in § 437g can easily be upset, to the detriment of the strong interest in a prompt resolution of a § 437g proceeding. First, Congress' requirement of a timely resolution of an enforcement proceeding can be disrupted by a respondent's decision to engraft a § 437h proceeding onto a § 437g action. If, in response to such a graft, the § 437g action is stayed pending the outcome of the § 437h proceeding, delay will obviously result. If the § 437g action is not stayed, delay may often be caused by the necessity of redoing work in light of the decision reached by the § 437h courts. Nor will the fact that an appeal has already been had on the abstract constitutional principle make up for some of that lost time, since an appeal on the question of whether the constitutional principle was correctly applied will still be available under § 437g.
Second, by invoking § 437h, a §437g respondent will be able to arrogate to himself the extraordinary -- perhaps unique -- right to an immediate hearing by a court of appeals sitting en banc. (Under Rule 35 of the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure, a case is ordinarily heard en banc only after a three-judge panel has heard it and after a majority of the circuit judges in active service have decided that consideration by the full court is necessary to assure the uniformity of the circuit's decisions or that the proceeding involves a question of exceptional importance.) Third, by invoking § 437h, the § 437g respondent can similarly arrogate to himself the unusual right of direct appeal to this Court.
In addition, I think the Court errs in construing with such liberality the jurisdictional scope of an Act that places uncommonly heavy burdens on the federal court system. Litigants who can invoke both § 437g and § 437h can impose on the courts piecemeal adjudication, with all its dangers and disadvantages: section 437h litigation will often occur without the firm basis in a specific controversy and without the fully developed record which should characterize all litigation and which will generally characterize § 437g proceedings. And § 437h litigation is all too likely to decide questions of constitutional law which might have been avoided by a decision on a narrower ground in a § 437g proceeding.
"if mandatory en banc hearings were multiplied, the effect on the calendars of this court as to such matters and as to all other business might be severe and disruptive."
members. Consequently, I would hold that the District Court should not have certified this case to the Court of Appeals, and that the Court of Appeals was without jurisdiction to decide it.
Accordingly, I would dismiss this appeal for want of jurisdiction.
* The Court's opinion suggests that any approach other than its own would "remove a whole category of constitutional challenges from the purview of § 437h, thereby significantly limiting the usefulness of that provision." Ante at 453 U. S. 191. However, that "whole category" consists only of those few challenges raised by § 437g respondents who did not raise the challenge before the § 437g proceeding began. Any such challenge, of course, will not go unresolved, but will be promptly handled according to the method Congress provided under § 437g for Federal Election Campaign Act issues raised after proceedings have begun.

References: § 441
 § 441
 § 437
 § 437
 § 437
 v. 
 § 437
 § 437
 § 437
 § 437
 § 437
 § 437
 § 437
 § 437
 § 441
 § 441
 § 441
 § 441
 § 431
 § 441
 § 441
 §441
 § 431
 § 441
 § 441
 § 441
 v. 
 § 437
 v. 
 § 437
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 § 437
 § 437
 § 437
 § 437
 v. 
 v. 
 § 437
 § 437
 § 437
 § 437
 § 437
 § 437
 § 437
 § 437
 § 437
 § 437
 § 437
 § 437
 § 437
 § 437
 § 437
 § 437
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 § 437
 § 437
 § 437
 v. 
 § 437
 § 437
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 § 437
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 § 437
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 § 437
 § 437
 § 441
 § 441
 § 441
 § 441
 § 441
 § 441
 § 441
 § 441
 § 431
 § 441
 § 441
 v. 
 § 437
 § 437
 § 437
 § 437
 § 437
 § 437
 § 437
 § 437
 § 437
 § 437
 § 437
 § 437
 § 437
 § 437
 § 437
 § 437
 § 437
 § 437
 § 437
 §437
 § 437
 § 437
 § 437
 § 437
 § 437
 § 437
 § 437
 § 437
 § 437
 § 437
 § 437