Cite as: 558 U. S. ____ (2010) 15 Opinion of the Court validity of §441b. When the statute now at issue came before the Court in McConnell, both the majority and the dissenting opinions considered the question of its facial validity. The holding and validity of Austin were essential to the reasoning of the McConnell majority opinion, which upheld BCRA’s extension of §441b. See 540 U. S., at 205 (quoting Austin, 494 U. S., at 660). McConnell permitted federal felony punishment for speech by all corporations, including nonprofit ones, that speak on prohibited subjects shortly before federal elections. See 540 U. S., at 203–209. Four Members of the McConnell Court would have overruled Austin, including Chief Justice Rehnquist, who had joined the Court’s opinion in Austin but reconsidered that conclu sion. See 540 U. S., at 256–262 (SCALIA, J., concurring in part, concurring in judgment in part, and dissenting in part); id., at 273–275 (THOMAS, J., concurring in part, concurring in result in part, concurring in judgment in part, and dissenting in part); id., at 322–338 (opinion of KENNEDY, J., joined by Rehnquist, C. J., and SCALIA, J.). That inquiry into the facial validity of the statute was facilitated by the extensive record, which was “over 100,000 pages” long, made in the three-judge District Court. McConnell v. Federal Election Comm’n, 251 F. Supp. 2d 176, 209 (DC 2003) (per curiam) (McConnell I). It is not the case, then, that the Court today is prema ture in interpreting §441b “ ‘on the basis of [a] factually barebones recor[d].’ ” Washington State Grange v. Wash ington State Republican Party, 552 U. S. 442, 450 (2008) (quoting Sabri v. United States, 541 U. S. 600, 609 (2004)). The McConnell majority considered whether the statute was facially invalid. An as-applied challenge was brought in Wisconsin Right to Life, Inc. v. Federal Election Comm’n, 546 U. S. 410, 411–412 (2006) (per curiam), and the Court confirmed that the challenge could be main tained. Then, in WRTL, the controlling opinion of the