APPENDIX A EXCERPT FROM McCONNELL v. FEDERAL ELECTION COMMISSION In 2003, the Supreme Court presented a concise history of the federal campaign financing laws contained in the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971, as amended, 2 U.S.C. §§ 431-455 (FECA). It did so in the context of upholding the constitutionality of the vast majority of restrictions that were added to these laws in 2002 by the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (BCRA) to close large gaps in statutory coverage that had emerged over the past three decades since FECA’s original enactment. McConnell v. Fed. Election Comm’n, 540 U.S. 93 (2003). Set forth below are pertinent excerpts from the Supreme Court’s discussion of our country’s regulation of campaign financing and the events that led up to enactment of BCRA in 2002. Id. at 115-132. 72 * * * More than a century ago the “sober-minded Elihu Root” advocated legislation that would prohibit political contri- butions by corporations in order to prevent “‘the great aggregations of wealth, from using their corporate funds, directly or indirectly,’” to elect legislators who would “‘vote for their protection and the advancement of their interests as against those of the public.’” United States v. Automobile Workers, 352 U.S. 567, 571 (1957) (quoting E. Root, Addresses on Government and Citizenship 143 (R. Bacon & J. Scott eds.1916)).... The text presented here has been edited for conciseness. For example, all footnotes have been omitted, as have other court citations, extended recitations of legislative citations, and quotations from lower court decisions that have little direct bearing on the Court’s ultimate rulings on the legal and constitutional issues involved. Interested readers may wish to consult the full decision for the entire content of the Court’s discussion. 72 202