Court Opinion

ID: 9428549
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-02 23:24:06.455592+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:23:14.223423
License: Public Domain

Justice Blackmun and Justice O’Connor,
concurring in the judgment.
The contribution limitations at issue here encroach directly on political expression and association. Thus, Berkeley’s ordinance cannot survive constitutional challenge unless it withstands “exacting scrutiny.” First National Bank of Boston v. Bellotti, 435 U. S. 765, 786 (1978). To meet this rigorous standard of review, Berkeley must demonstrate that its ordinance advances a sufficiently important governmental interest and employs means “ ‘closely drawn to avoid unnecessary abridgment’” of First Amendment freedoms. Ibid, (quoting Buckley v. Valeo, 424 U. S. 1, 25 (1976)).
We would hold that Berkeley has neither demonstrated a genuine threat to its important governmental interests nor employed means closely drawn to avoid unnecessary abridgment of protected activity. In Buckley, this Court upheld limitations on contributions to candidates as necessary to prevent contributors from corrupting the representatives to whom the people have delegated political decisions. But curtailment of speech and association in a ballot measure campaign, where the people themselves render the ultimate political decision, cannot be justified on this basis.
Nor has Berkeley proved a genuine threat to its interest in maintaining voter confidence in government. We would not deny the legitimacy of that interest. Indeed, in Bellotti, this Court explicitly recognized that “[preserving the integrity of the electoral process, preventing corruption, . . . ‘sustaining] the active, alert responsibility of the individual citizen in a democracy for the wise conduct of government,’” and “[preservation of the individual citizen’s confidence in government” are “interests of the highest importance” in ballot measure elections. 435 U. S., at 788-789, citing and quoting *303United States v. Automobile Workers, 352 U. S. 567, 570, 575 (1957). We did not find those interests threatened in Bellotti, however, in part because the State failed to show “by record or legislative findings that corporate advocacy threatened imminently to undermine democratic processes” or “the confidence of the citizenry in government.” 435 U. S., at 789-790. The city’s evidentiary support in this case is equally sparse.
Finally, Berkeley does not justify its contribution limit as necessary to encourage disclosure. We cannot accept the Court’s conclusion that that interest is “insubstantial,” given the Court’s concession that “when individuals or corporations speak through committees, they often adopt seductive names that may tend to conceal the true identity of the source.” Ante, at 298. Yet Berkeley need not impose a $250 ceiling on contributions to encourage disclosure so long as it vigorously enforces its already stringent disclosure laws. Ante, at 294, n. 4.
We need say no more in order to reverse. Accordingly, we concur in the judgment.