By David Keating, the President of the Institute for Free Speech:
Fifty years ago this month, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its landmark ruling in Buckley v. Valeo. Fortunately for the free speech clause of the First Amendment, the Court invalidated crucial parts of the extensive 1974 amendments to the 1971 Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA).
To mark the January 30 anniversary of Buckley, the Institute for Free Speech and the Volokh Conspiracy today begin publishing a series of essays on the opinion, which will run through the anniversary date. We at the Institute recognize that this anniversary provides an opportunity to examine how Buckley safeguards the First Amendment rights that protect our ability to criticize, challenge, and ultimately improve our government.
And the pre-Buckley world looked quite different. Before FECA, U.S. campaign finance was largely unregulated. The 1974 amendments imposed restrictions on contributions and expenditures. Buckley largely upheld contribution limits but ruled that spending limits were unconstitutional.
Had the Court upheld the law in its entirety, Congress undoubtedly would have enacted even stricter laws to squelch critics. Numerous provisions of the pre-Buckley FECA posed a true threat to free speech, so it's not an exaggeration to say the decision saved that fundamental right.
