10
MCCUTCHEON v. FEDERAL ELECTION COMM’N
Opinion of ROBERTS, C. J.
B
1
The parties and amici curiae spend significant energy
debating whether the line that Buckley drew between
contributions and expenditures should remain the law.
Notwithstanding the robust debate, we see no need in this
case to revisit Buckley’s distinction between contributions
and expenditures and the corollary distinction in the
applicable standards of review. Buckley held that the
Government’s interest in preventing quid pro quo corruption or its appearance was “sufficiently important,” id., at
26–27; we have elsewhere stated that the same interest
may properly be labeled “compelling,” see National Conservative Political Action Comm., 470 U. S., at 496–497, so
that the interest would satisfy even strict scrutiny. Moreover, regardless whether we apply strict scrutiny or Buckley’s “closely drawn” test, we must assess the fit between
the stated governmental objective and the means selected
to achieve that objective. See, e.g., National Conservative
Political Action Comm., supra, at 496–501; Randall v.
Sorrell, 548 U. S. 230, 253–262 (2006) (opinion of BREYER,
J.). Or to put it another way, if a law that restricts political speech does not “avoid unnecessary abridgement” of
First Amendment rights, Buckley, 424 U. S., at 25, it
cannot survive “rigorous” review.
Because we find a substantial mismatch between the
Government’s stated objective and the means selected to
achieve it, the aggregate limits fail even under the “closely
drawn” test. We therefore need not parse the differences
between the two standards in this case.
2
Buckley treated the constitutionality of the $25,000
aggregate limit as contingent upon that limit’s ability to
prevent circumvention of the $1,000 base limit, describing
the aggregate limit as “no more than a corollary” of the