FEC v. Massachusetts Citizens for Life

Federal Election Commission v. Massachusetts Citizens for Life, Inc.
Supreme Court of the United States
Argued Oct 7, 1986 Decided Dec 15, 1986
Full case name	Federal Election Commission v. Massachusetts Citizens for Life, Inc.
Docket no.	85-701
Citations	479 U.S. 238 (more) 107 S. Ct. 616; 93 L. Ed. 2d 539; 1986 U.S. LEXIS 26
Holding
Massachusetts Citizens for Life violated the Federal Election Campaign Act by distributing flyers asking voters to vote “for life” paid for with treasury funds, however that section of FECA itself violated the First Amendment.
Court membership
Chief Justice William Rehnquist Associate Justices William J. Brennan Jr. · Byron White Thurgood Marshall · Harry Blackmun Lewis F. Powell Jr. · John P. Stevens Sandra Day O'Connor · Antonin Scalia
Case opinions
Majority	Brennan, joined by Marshall, Powell, Scalia
Concurrence	O’Connor
Dissent	Rehnquist, joined by White, Blackmun, Stevens
Laws applied
U.S. Const. amend. I

In Federal Election Commission v. Massachusetts Citizens for Life, Inc., 479 U.S. 238 (1986), the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Massachusetts Citizens for Life, Inc. violated the Federal Election Campaign Act by distributing flyers asking voters to vote “for life” paid for with treasury funds. However, the court also ruled that the FECA section that required any spending by corporations on political campaigning to be done through political action committees (PACs) was itself a violation of the First Amendment rights of nonprofit political and ideological groups.^[1][2]

See also[]

• FEC v. National Conservative PAC
• FEC v. Wisconsin Right to Life, Inc.
• Citizens United v. FEC

References[]

External links[]

• Text of Federal Election Commission v. Massachusetts Citizens for Life, Inc., 479 U.S. 238 (1986) is available from: CourtListener  Justia  Library of Congress  Oyez (oral argument audio) 

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