National Republican Senatorial Committee v. Federal Election Comm’n · ¶112

Contra the majority, nothing in the First Amendment mandates that outcome—as indeed this Court has held before. The First Amendment permits campaign finance restrictions that are narrowly tailored to protect against quid pro quo corruption and its appearance. Caps on a party’s coordinated expenditures pass that test with flying colors. The caps prevent easy circumvention of contribution limits; and so the former, as much as the latter, are needed to avert corrupt deals between candidates and their supporters. That is not my personal theory. It is (now was) the Court’s. Twenty-five years ago, in a case called Colorado II, the Court considered—and rejected—the same arguments it finds irresistible today. See Federal Election Comm’n v. Colorado Republican Federal Campaign Comm., 533 U. S. 431 (2001). The majority must overrule Colorado II to arrive at its outcome—so, once again, disregards…

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