Cite as: 596 U. S. ____ (2022) 13 Opinion of the Court from using this critical source of campaign funding, however, Section 304 raises a barrier to entry—thus abridging political speech. The dissent cannot and does not claim that Section 304 imposes no burden on candidate speech. See post, at 5 (opinion of KAGAN, J.) (“every contribution regulation has some kind of indirect effect on electoral speech”). The dissent instead dismisses that burden as minor and insignificant. Post, at 4–6. As just explained, the extent of the burden may vary depending on the circumstances of a particular candidate and particular election. But there is no doubt that the law does burden First Amendment electoral speech, and any such law must at least be justified by a permissible interest. See McCutcheon v. Federal Election Comm’n, 572 U. S. 185, 210 (2014) (plurality opinion) (“When the Government restricts speech, the Government bears the burden of proving the constitutionality of its actions.”). B With those First Amendment costs in mind, we turn to whether the loan-repayment limitation is justified. The parties debate whether strict or “closely drawn” scrutiny should apply in answering that question. Buckley, 424 U. S., at 25. We need not resolve this dispute because, under either standard, the Government must prove at the outset that it is in fact pursuing a legitimate objective. See McCutcheon, 572 U. S., at 210. It has not done so here. 1 This Court has recognized only one permissible ground for restricting political speech: the prevention of “quid pro quo” corruption or its appearance. See id., at 207; see also Federal Election Comm’n v. National Conservative Political Action Comm., 470 U. S. 480, 497 (1985). We have consistently rejected attempts to restrict campaign speech based