The History and Theory of Buckley v. Valeo

Abstract

Buckley v. Valeo was brought by a group of plaintiffs of divergent ideological and political viewpoints, including thenSenator James Buckley, then-former Senator Eugene McCarthy, the Conservative Party of New York, the New York Civil Liberties Union, and others. They were represented pro bono by lawyers of similarly divergent political viewpoints, although they generally shared a libertarian ideological stance. These lawyers included Dean Joel Gora of this school as well as your humble speaker. The plaintiffs disliked the Federal Election Campaigns Act4 on the merits, and they were profoundly convinced that its principal provisions violated the First Amendment. Senators Buckley and McCarthy both viewed themselves as candidates who had successfully challenged the existing political order-albeit from different directions-and believed that campaign finance reform would limit the ability of similar candidates in the future to challenge status quo politics.