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The Federal Election Campaign Act Amendments of 1976: 90 Stat. 475 (1976)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 January 2018

Paweł Laider
Affiliation:
Jagiellonian University, Krakow
Maciej Turek
Affiliation:
Jagiellonian University, Krakow
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Summary

Usually, the reaction of Congress to a Supreme Court decision finding its legislation in part or in whole unconstitutional is immediate, if the majority of representatives and/or Senators believe that the legislative department, as being superior to the judicial branch, should directly or indirectly overrule the Court's precedent. In 1976, however, one could observe a quick, but positive reaction of House of Representatives and Senate to the Buckley holding, resulting in the implementation of new provisions, which amended the 1971 and 1974 laws. Congress was in a hurry, as its members wanted the reform to come into force before the 1976 elections.

Importantly, the legislation referred not only to the regulations on expenditure limits, and the appointment of the Federal Election Commission's employees (granted to the president, who acted with the advice and consent of the Senate), but also to the operation of political action committees (restricting the financing of PACs by labor unions and corporations), and to the public financing program for presidential elections. Furthermore, Congress decided to equip the Commission with broader powers, such as the power to prosecute civil violations of campaign finance regulations.

An Act to amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to provide that members of the Federal Election Commission shall be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, and for other purposes…

SEC. 101. (a) (1) The second sentence of section 309(a)(1) of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971, as redesignated by section 105 (hereinafter in this Act referred to as the “Act”), is amended to read as follows: “The Commission is composed of the Secretary of the Senate and the Clerk of the House of Representatives, ex officio and without the right to vote, and 6 members appointed by the President of the United States, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate.” (2) The last sentence of section 309(a)(1) of the Act, as redesignated by section 105, is amended to read as follows: “No more than 3 members of the Commission appointed under this paragraph may be affiliated with the same political party.”

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Publisher: Jagiellonian University Press
Print publication year: 2015

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