16 CITIZENS UNITED v. FEDERAL ELECTION COMM’N Opinion of the Court Court not only entertained an as-applied challenge but also sustained it. Three Justices noted that they would continue to maintain the position that the record in McConnell demonstrated the invalidity of the Act on its face. 551 U. S., at 485–504 (opinion of SCALIA, J.). The controlling opinion in WRTL, which refrained from hold ing the statute invalid except as applied to the facts then before the Court, was a careful attempt to accept the essential elements of the Court’s opinion in McConnell, while vindicating the First Amendment arguments made by the WRTL parties. 551 U. S., at 482 (opinion of ROBERTS, C. J.). As noted above, Citizens United’s narrower arguments are not sustainable under a fair reading of the statute. In the exercise of its judicial responsibility, it is necessary then for the Court to consider the facial validity of §441b. Any other course of decision would prolong the substan tial, nation-wide chilling effect caused by §441b’s prohibi tions on corporate expenditures. Consideration of the facial validity of §441b is further supported by the follow ing reasons. First is the uncertainty caused by the litigating position of the Government. As discussed above, see Part II–D, supra, the Government suggests, as an alternative argu ment, that an as-applied challenge might have merit. This argument proceeds on the premise that the nonprofit corporation involved here may have received only de minimis donations from for-profit corporations and that some nonprofit corporations may be exempted from the operation of the statute. The Government also suggests that an as-applied challenge to §441b’s ban on books may be successful, although it would defend §441b’s ban as applied to almost every other form of media including pamphlets. See Tr. of Oral Arg. 65–66 (Sept. 9, 2009). The Government thus, by its own position, contributes to the uncertainty that §441b causes. When the Government