Federal Election Commission v. National Conservative Political Action Committee

In dissent joined by Justice Marshall, Justice White agreed with FEC that spending large sums of money breeds political corruption and threatens the integrity of political campaigns. White noted the informal but close relationship between ideological PACs and the political parties in a world of "tacit [unspoken] understandings and implied agreements." Also, White asserted political equality is undermined by the accumulations of wealth by the PACs. Therefore, government restrictions should enhance the voice of the individual citizen by limiting PAC expenditures. In direct opposition to Rehnquist, White criticized equating expenditures of money with actual free speech. White wrote, "the First Amendment protects the right to speak, not the right to spend." Individual citizens who contribute to PACs do not actually have the opportunity to voice their political views since the actual decisions on spending are made by only the few PAC leaders. Contributors to political committees were no more engaging in speech than those who contributed directly to political candidates for which there exist limitations. Hence, any limitations would pose only minor interference with First Amendment rights. White feared candidates would increasingly feel pressure to please the PAC spenders rather than the voters.