National Republican Senatorial Committee v. Federal Election Comm’n · ¶65

That transparency matters both factually and legally. Factually, as the Court has explained, disclosure can “deter actual corruption and avoid the appearance of corruption by exposing large contributions and expenditures to the light of publicity.” Id., at 223 (quotation marks omitted). Disclosure can help trigger investigations of whether a donor and party have violated earmarking laws. Legally, the Court in McCutcheon stressed that “disclosure often represents a less restrictive alternative to flat bans on certain types or quantities of speech.” Ibid.

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