Cite as: 558 U. S. ____ (2010) 11 Opinion of STEVENS, J. a failure. In this respect, too, the majority’s critique of line-drawing collapses into a critique of the as-applied review method generally.8 The majority suggests that, even though it expressly dismissed its facial challenge, Citizens United neverthe­ less preserved it—not as a freestanding “claim,” but as a potential argument in support of “a claim that the FEC has violated its First Amendment right to free speech.” Ante, at 13; see also ante, at 4 (ROBERTS, C. J., concurring) (describing Citizens United’s claim as: “[T]he Act violates the First Amendment”). By this novel logic, virtually any submission could be reconceptualized as “a claim that the Government has violated my rights,” and it would then be available to the Court to entertain any conceivable issue that might be relevant to that claim’s disposition. Not only the as-applied/facial distinction, but the basic rela­ tionship between litigants and courts, would be upended if the latter had free rein to construe the former’s claims at such high levels of generality. There would be no need for plaintiffs to argue their case; they could just cite the con­ stitutional provisions they think relevant, and leave the rest to us.9 —————— 8 The majority’s “chilling” argument is particularly inapposite with respect to 2 U. S. C. §441b’s longstanding restriction on the use of corporate general treasury funds for express advocacy. If there was ever any significant uncertainty about what counts as the functional equivalent of express advocacy, there has been little doubt about what counts as express advocacy since the “magic words” test of Buckley v. Valeo, 424 U. S. 1, 44, n. 52 (1976) (per curiam). Yet even though Citizens United’s briefs never once mention §441b’s restriction on express advocacy; even though this restriction does not generate chilling concerns; and even though no one has suggested that Hillary counts as express advocacy; the majority nonetheless reaches out to opine that this statutory provision is “invalid” as well. Ante, at 50. 9 The majority adds that the distinction between facial and as-applied challenges does not have “some automatic effect” that mechanically controls the judicial task. Ante, at 14. I agree, but it does not follow that in any given case we should ignore the distinction, much less