Federal Election Commission v. Massachusetts Citizens for Life, Inc

In Federal Election Commission v. Massachusetts Citizens for Life, Inc, 479 U.S. 238, 107 S. Ct. 616, 93 L. Ed. 2d 539 (1986), the Supreme Court held that a section of the Federal Election Campaign Act prohibiting direct expenditure of corporate funds in connection with any federal election violated the First Amendment as applied to a nonprofit corporation that published a newsletter urging readers to vote "pro-life" and listing approximately 400 candidates for state and federal office in Massachusetts who either supported or opposed the corporation's views. Id. at 241-45, 263-65. That case involved whether a nonprofit advocacy group that was engaged in express advocacy could raise and spend general fund money directly on an election. Id. at 249-65. Thus, it was a case challenging a restriction on independent spending as applied to MCFL, see id. at 263-64.