Cite as: 540 U. S. 93 (2003)
Opinion of the Court
vided "a constitutionally sufficient justification for the $1,000
contribution limitation." Id., at 26.
We prefaced our analysis of the $1,000 limitation on expenditures by observing that it broadly encompassed every
expenditure "'relative to a clearly identified candidate."'
Id., at 39 (quoting 18 U. S. C. §608(e)(1) (1970 ed., Supp. IV)).
To avoid vagueness concerns we construed that phrase to
apply only to "communications that in express terms advocate the election or defeat of a clearly identified candidate
for federal office." 424 U. S., at 42-44. We concluded, however, that as so narrowed, the provision would not provide
effective protection against the dangers of quid pro quo arrangements, because persons and groups could eschew expenditures that expressly advocated the election or defeat of
a clearly identified candidate while remaining "free to spend
as much as they want to promote the candidate and his
views." Id., at 45. We also rejected the argument that the
expenditure limits were necessary to prevent attempts to
circumvent the Act's contribution limits, because FECA already treated expenditures controlled by or coordinated with
the candidate as contributions, and we were not persuaded
that independent expenditures posed the same risk of real
or apparent corruption as coordinated expenditures. Id., at
46-47. We therefore held that Congress' interest in preventing real or apparent corruption was inadequate to justify the heavy burdens on the freedoms of expression and
association that the expenditure limits imposed.
We upheld all of the disclosure and reporting requirements
in the Act that were challenged on appeal to this Court after
finding that they vindicated three important interests: providing the electorate with relevant information about the
candidates and their supporters; deterring actual corruption
and discouraging the use of money for improper purposes;
and facilitating enforcement of the prohibitions in the Act.
Id., at 66-68. In order to avoid an overbreadth problem,
however, we placed the same narrowing construction on the
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