22 CITIZENS UNITED v. FEDERAL ELECTION COMM’N Opinion of STEVENS, J. preserve Austin. As for McConnell, the portions of BCRA it upheld may be prolix, but all three branches of Govern­ ment have worked to make §203 as user-friendly as possi­ ble. For instance, Congress established a special mecha­ nism for expedited review of constitutional challenges, see note following 2 U. S. C. §437h; the FEC has established a standardized process, with clearly defined safe harbors, for corporations to claim that a particular electioneering communication is permissible under WRTL, see 11 CFR §114.15 (2009);27 and, as noted above, THE CHIEF JUSTICE crafted his controlling opinion in WRTL with the express goal of maximizing clarity and administrability, 551 U. S., at 469–470, 473–474. The case for stare decisis may be bolstered, we have said, when subsequent rulings “have reduced the impact” of a precedent “while reaffirming the decision’s core ruling.” Dickerson v. United States, 530 U. S. 428, 443 (2000).28 In the end, the Court’s rejection of Austin and McCon —————— 27 The FEC established this process following the Court’s June 2007 decision in that case, 551 U. S. 449. In the brief interval between the establishment of this process and the 2008 election, corporations and unions used it to make $108.5 million in electioneering communications. Supp. Brief for Appellee 22–23; FEC, Electioneering Communication Summary, online at http://fec.gov/finance/disclosure/ECSummary.shtml (all Internet materials as visited Jan. 18, 2010, and available in Clerk of Court’s case file). 28 Concedely, Austin and McConnell were constitutional decisions, and we have often said that “claims of stare decisis are at the weakest in that field, where our mistakes cannot be corrected by Congress.” Vieth v. Jubelirer, 541 U. S. 267, 305 (2004) (plurality opinion). As a general matter, this principle is a sound one. But the principle only takes on real force when an earlier ruling has obstructed the normal democratic process; it is the fear of making “mistakes [that] cannot be corrected by Congress,” ibid., that motivates us to review constitutional precedents with a more critical eye. Austin and McConnell did not obstruct state or congressional legislative power in any way. Although it is unclear how high a bar today’s decision will pose to future at­ tempts to regulate corporate electioneering, it will clearly restrain much legislative action.