Campaign Finance Reform: A Legal Analysis of Issue and Express Advocacy Metadata

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Title

  • Main Title Campaign Finance Reform: A Legal Analysis of Issue and Express Advocacy

Creator

  • Author: Whitaker, L. Paige
    Creator Type: Personal
    Creator Info: American Law Division

Publisher

  • Name: Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service.
    Place of Publication: Washington D.C.

Date

  • Creation: 2001-07-10

Language

  • English

Description

  • Content Description: Issue advocacy communications have become increasingly popular over the federal election cycles. Often these advertisements could be interpreted to favor or disfavor certain candidates, while also serving to inform the public about a policy issue. However, unlike communications that expressly advocate the election or defeat of a clearly identified candidate, the Supreme Court has ruled that issue ads are constitutionally protected First Amendment speech and cannot be regulated in any manner. According to most lower court rulings, only speech containing express words of advocacy of election or defeat, also known as “express advocacy” or “magic words” can be regulated as election-related communications and therefore be subject to the requirements of the Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA). Unlike express advocacy communications, therefore, issue ads may be paid for with funds unregulated by federal law, i.e., soft money
  • Physical Description: 6 pages.

Subject

  • Legislative Indexing Vocabulary: Elections
  • Legislative Indexing Vocabulary: Campaign finance reform

Collection

  • Name: Congressional Research Service Reports
    Code: CRSR

Institution

  • Name: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
    Code: UNTGD

Resource Type

  • Report

Format

  • Text

Identifier

  • CRS Report Number: 98-282
  • Accession or Local Control No: 98-282 2001-07-10
  • Archival Resource Key: ark:/67531/metacrs9279
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