Cite as: 558 U. S. ____ (2010) 61 Opinion of STEVENS, J. Unlike the majority’s myopic focus on quid pro quo scenarios and the free-floating “First Amendment princi­ ples” on which it rests so much weight, ante, at 1, 48, this broader understanding of corruption has deep roots in the Nation’s history. “During debates on the earliest [cam­ paign finance] reform acts, the terms ‘corruption’ and ‘undue influence’ were used nearly interchangeably.” Pasquale, Reclaiming Egalitarianism in the Political Theory of Campaign Finance Reform, 2008 U. Ill. L. Rev. 599, 601. Long before Buckley, we appreciated that “[t]o say that Congress is without power to pass appropriate legislation to safeguard . . . an election from the improper use of money to influence the result is to deny to the na­ tion in a vital particular the power of self protection.” Burroughs v. United States, 290 U. S. 534, 545 (1934). And whereas we have no evidence to support the notion that the Framers would have wanted corporations to have the same rights as natural persons in the electoral con­ text, we have ample evidence to suggest that they would have been appalled by the evidence of corruption that Congress unearthed in developing BCRA and that the Court today discounts to irrelevance. It is fair to say that “[t]he Framers were obsessed with corruption,” Teachout 348, which they understood to encompass the dependency of public officeholders on private interests, see id., at 373– 374; see also Randall, 548 U. S., at 280 (STEVENS, J., dissenting). They discussed corruption “more often in the Constitutional Convention than factions, violence, or instability.” Teachout 352. When they brought our consti­ —————— receive, ibid., “free[ing] candidates and their staffs from the intermina­ ble burden of fundraising,” ibid. (internal quotation marks omitted), and “protect[ing] equal access to the political arena,” Randall v. Sorrell, 548 U. S. 230, 278 (2006) (STEVENS, J., dissenting) (internal quotation marks omitted). I continue to adhere to these beliefs, but they have not been briefed by the parties or amici in this case, and their soundness is immaterial to its proper disposition.