Buckley v. Valeo

In a variety of different votes on different issues, the Supreme Court held: first, the doctrine of separation of powers prevents Congress from appointing a majority of the members of the Federal Election Commission (FEC), which administers FECA; second, while limits on contributions to political campaigns are constitutional, limits on campaign expenditures violate freedom of political expression protected by the First Amendment; and third, the FECA provisions authorizing public funding of political campaigns violate neither the First Amendment nor the Fifth Amendment's Due Process Clause, even though these provisions are more likely to help major parties and candidates than minor ones.