BUCKLEY v. VALEO 1 Per Curiam sary to an informed decision." 7' 171 U. S. App. D. C., at 244, 519 F. 2d, at 893. Since the entry of judgment by the Court of Appeals, 157 The Court of Appeals, following the sequence of the certified questions, adopted a piecemeal approach to the six questions, reproduced below, concerning the method of appointment and powers of the Commission. Its basic holding, in answer to question 8 (a), was that "Congress has the constitutional authority to establish and appoint [the Commission] to carry out appropriate legislative functions." 171 U. S. App. D. C., at 244, 519 F. 2d, at 890. Appellants' claim, embodied in questions 8 (b) through 8 (f), that the Commission's powers go well beyond "legislative functions" and are facially invalid was in an overarching sense not ripe, since "[w]hether particular powers are predominantly executive or judicial, or insufficiently related to the exercise of appropriate legislative power is an abstract question . . . better decided in the context of a particular factual controversy." Id., at 243, 519 F. 2d, at 892. While some of the statutory grants such as civil enforcement and candidate disqualification powers (questions 8 (c) and 8 (e)) raised, in the court's view, "very serious constitutional questions," only the power of the Commission to issue advisory opinions under § 437f (a) was ripe in the context of an attack on Congress' method of appointment. Even then, beyond the Commission's power to inform the public of its interpretations, the question whether Congress under § 437f (b) could validly give substantive effect to the Commission's opinions in later civil and criminal enforcement proceedings should, the Court of Appeals held, await a case in which a defense based on § 437f (b) was asserted. Finally, the question of the Commission's power under 26 U. S. C. § 9008 (d) (3) (1970 ed., Supp. IV) to authorize nominating convention expenditures in excess of the statutory limits (question 8 (f)) was found ripe because appellants had not challenged it in relation to the method of appointment but had asserted only that 26 U. S. C. § 9008 (d) (3) (1970 ed., Supp. IV) vested excessive discretion in the Commission. The Court of Appeals found that Congress had provided sufficient guidelines to withstand that attack. The Court of Appeals accordingly answered the six certified questions as follows: "8. Do the provisions in the challenged statutes concerning the powers and method of appointment of the Federal Election Corn-