The Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971, with its sweeping 1974 amendments, is the backbone of US campaign finance law. It established mandatory disclosure of contributions and expenditures, capped individual and PAC contributions, limited candidate self-funding and total campaign spending, and created the Federal Election Commission to enforce the rules.
The 1974 amendments responded to Watergate-era abuses with strict spending limits and public financing for presidential races. The Supreme Court's 1976 Buckley v. Valeo decision upheld contribution limits and disclosure but struck down most spending limits, splitting campaign-finance law into a regime that limits what you can give but not what you can spend.
Most major doctrines in modern campaign finance — the contribution/expenditure distinction, independent expenditures, disclosure thresholds, and FEC enforcement — flow from FECA's text as reshaped by Buckley, Citizens United, and later rulings. FECA still operates, but a series of court decisions have dismantled key pieces.
FECA created the rules that every campaign-finance fight since 1971 has been arguing about. Understanding it is the prerequisite for understanding why billionaires can spend without limit while a teacher can only give $3,300.
People often think Citizens United created modern campaign finance law. FECA did — Citizens United and other rulings only dismantled parts of it. The disclosure regime and contribution limits still in force come from FECA.
FECA created the rules that every campaign-finance fight since 1971 has been arguing about. Understanding it is the prerequisite for understanding why billionaires can spend without limit while a teacher can only give $3,300.
People often think Citizens United created modern campaign finance law. FECA did — Citizens United and other rulings only dismantled parts of it. The disclosure regime and contribution limits still in force come from FECA.