Buckley v. Valeo
United States Supreme Court
424 U.S. 1 (1976)
The Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA), as amended, imposed limits on individual and group political contributions and expenditures, required disclosure above certain thresholds, created public funding for presidential campaigns, and established a Federal Election Commission (FEC) whose members were appointed partly by congressional officers rather than the President alone. Senator James Buckley (plaintiff) sued FEC representative Francis Valeo (defendant), arguing FECA violated the First Amendment and that the FEC's structure violated separation of powers; the lower courts rejected these challenges, and Buckley appealed to the Supreme Court.
Whether federal limits on campaign contributions, independent expenditures, and candidates' self-funded campaign spending violate the First Amendment, and whether a commission whose members are partly appointed by congressional officers violates the Constitution's Appointments Clause.