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Buckley v Valeo
-Limits contributions to candidates for federal office
-Also limited expenditures
-Contributions had to be disclosed to the FEC
-Led to hard money, 527's, and soft money contributions -
Federal Campaign Act of 1971
-Increased necessary disclosure of contributors for candidates, parties, and PAC's
-Amended multiple times due to little enforcement
-Allowed political parties to spend unlimited hard money -
Bipartisan Campaign Finance Reform Act of 2002
-Also known McCain-Feingold Act
-PAC's became limited due to the fact there were limits placed on how much certain categories may donate
-Super PAC's becames less limited, helping to boost incumbents in campaign money due to their use of "independent expenditures"
-Individual contributions were limited to a great extent -
Citizens United v FEC
-Corporations were seen as people so any amount of money could be donated
-Deemed unconstitiutional because it violated the FIrst Amendment (freedom of speech) -
McCutcheon v FEC
-Imposed a limit on individual contributions to national party and federal candidate committees
-Decided limitations helped prevent corruption
-Created a new fairness in campaign finances
-Argued that it violated the First Amendment
-Corporations eanted to be seen as giving individual contributions