Buckley V. Valeo
How Did It Begin?
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After the Watergate scandal in the 1970s, the Federal Election Commission
was created to keep an eye on how much money could be donated to campaigns.
All contributions from individuals had to be under a certain amount, and if they
were a certain amount or higher, they had to be
reported.
The idea was to keep corruption out of elections in the
future.
Who Were Buckley and Valeo?
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Senator James L
Buckley of New York
was one of a group of
plaintiffs claiming that
FECA’s contribution
limitations violated
the First
Amendment’s guarantee of
freedom of speech.
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Francis Ralph “Frank” Valeo
was a member of the FEC and
defendant for the Federal
government in Buckley V Valeo.
How Would You Decide?
Arguments
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Buckley first filed suit in January
of 1975 in US
He argued that spending money
for the benefit of a candidate was
protected under free speech
FEC defended the
constitutionalism of the FECA
district court
US District Court and Court of Appeals
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The US District Court requested resolutions of the questions to the US Court of
Appeals
The Court of Appeals upheld almost all of FECA
Buckley and the other plaintiffs then appealed to the Supreme Court
Ideas and Rights Argued
➢ Did limits placed on election spending
by the FECA violate freedom of
speech?
Supreme Court Decision
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The case was argued on November 10, 1975 and decided on January 30, 1976
Decided by 6-3 vote
○ Yes: Restriction on independent campaign spending, spending by the
candidate on their own campaign, and limitation on total campaign
spending were violations of the first amendment
○ No: Restrictions on individual contributions to candidates and campaigns
did not violate the first amendment because it protected the campaign
integrity
Significance
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As long as advertisements didn’t
explicitly advocate the defeat of a
candidate, they could donate as
much as they liked
Greatly increased use of soft
money
Recap Quiz
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What era was the case decided?
What was Buckley’s argument?
What was the final decision?
What did this increase the use of?
Works Cited
https://www.britannica.com/event/Buckley-v-Valeo
https://www.oyez.org/cases/1975/75-436