Cite as: 558 U. S. ____ (2010)
15
Opinion of STEVENS, J.
ruled that §203 does not apply to Hillary.13
Second, the Court could have expanded the MCFL ex
emption to cover §501(c)(4) nonprofits that accept only a
de minimis amount of money from for-profit corporations.
Citizens United professes to be such a group: Its brief says
it “is funded predominantly by donations from individuals
who support [its] ideological message.” Brief for Appellant
5. Numerous Courts of Appeal have held that de minimis
business support does not, in itself, remove an otherwise
qualifying organization from the ambit of MCFL.14 This
Court could have simply followed their lead.15
Finally, let us not forget Citizens United’s as-applied
constitutional challenge.
Precisely because Citizens
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13 The Court entirely ignores this statutory argument. It concludes
that §203 applies to Hillary on the basis of the film’s content, ante, at
7–8, without considering the possibility that §203 does not apply to
video-on-demand transmissions generally.
14 See Colorado Right to Life Comm., Inc. v. Coffman, 498 F. 3d 1137,
1148 (CA10 2007) (adopting this rule and noting that “every other
circuit to have addressed this issue” has done likewise); Brief for
Independent Sector as Amicus Curiae 10–11 (collecting cases). The
Court rejects this solution in part because the Government “merely
suggest[s] it” and “does not say that it agrees with the interpretation.”
Ante, at 11. Our colleagues would thus punish a defendant for showing
insufficient excitement about a ground it has advanced, at the same
time that they decide the case on a ground the plaintiff expressly
abandoned. The Court also protests that a de minimis standard would
“requir[e] intricate case-by-case determinations.” Ante, at 12. But de
minimis tests need not be intricate at all. A test that granted MCFL
status to §501(c)(4) organizations if they received less than a fixed
dollar amount of business donations in the previous year, or if such
donations represent less than a fixed percentage of their total assets,
would be perfectly easy to understand and administer.
15 Another bypassed ground, not briefed by the parties, would have
been to revive the Snowe-Jeffords Amendment in BCRA §203(c),
allowing certain nonprofit corporations to pay for electioneering com
munications with general treasury funds, to the extent they can trace
the payments to individual contributions. See Brief for National Rifle
Association as Amicus Curiae 5–15 (arguing forcefully that Congress
intended this result).