FEC v. Massachusetts Citizens for Life

1986 United States Supreme Court case

Federal Election Commission v. Massachusetts Citizens for Life, Inc.
Supreme Court of the United States
Argued October 7, 1986 Decided December 15, 1986
Full case name	Federal Election Commission v. Massachusetts Citizens for Life, Inc.
Docket no.	85-701
Citations	479 U.S. 238 (more)107 S. Ct. 616; 93 L. Ed. 2d 539; 1986 U.S. LEXIS 26
Holding
Massachusetts Citizens for Life violated the Federal Election Campaign Act by distributing flyers asking voters to vote "for life" paid for with treasury funds, however that section of FECA itself violated the First Amendment.
Court membership
Chief Justice William Rehnquist Associate Justices William J. Brennan Jr. · Byron White Thurgood Marshall · Harry Blackmun Lewis F. Powell Jr. · John P. Stevens Sandra Day O'Connor · Antonin Scalia
Case opinions
Majority	Brennan (Parts I and II), joined by unanimous
Majority	Brennan (Parts III–B and III–C), joined by Marshall, Powell, O'Connor, Scalia
Plurality	Brennan (Part III–A), joined by Marshall, Powell, Scalia
Concurrence	O'Connor (in part and in judgment)
Concur/dissent	Rehnquist, joined by White, Blackmun, Stevens
Laws applied
U.S. Const. amend. I

FEC v. Massachusetts Citizens for Life was a lawsuit filed by the US Federal Election Commission.

Massachusetts Citizens for Life

Massachusetts Citizens for Life was a nonprofit corporation, aiming to "defend the right to life of all human beings born and unborn," with advocacy activities.

It published a newsletter. In September, 1978, Massachusetts Citizens for Life distributed a "Special Edition" telling people to vote "pro-life" in the primary elections. It listed candidates for every office in every voting district in Massachusetts, and labeled each candidate as supporting or rejecting their views. The publication was distributed to a larger audience than that of the standard newsletter (the general public, not just supporters). It was financed by money taken from Massachusetts Citizens for Life's general treasury funds.

A Federal Election Commission complaint was filed. Claiming the "Special Edition" violated § 316; funds used from a corporate treasury to distribute a campaign flyer (of certain political candidates) toward the general public. The FEC determined probable cause of a violation of the statute. The FEC then led a complaint in Federal District Court.

Case

In Federal Election Commission v. Massachusetts Citizens for Life, Inc., 479 U.S. 238 (1986), the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Massachusetts Citizens for Life, Inc., a pro-life organization, violated the Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA) by distributing flyers asking voters to vote "for life" paid for with treasury funds. The court also ruled that the FECA section that required corporate spending on political campaigns be done through political action committees (PACs) was itself a violation of the First Amendment rights.

References

FEC v. Mass. Cit. for Life, 479 U.S. 238 (1986).
McDonald, Matt (August 28, 2022). "Diehl Is Choice For Governor of Massachusetts Pro-Life Group; All The MCFL PAC Endorsements". NewBostonPost. Retrieved May 27, 2023.
Wermiel, Stephen (December 16, 1986). "High Court Overturns Law Requiring Nonprofit Political Groups to Use PACs". Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition. p. 4. Retrieved May 16, 2017 – via ProQuest.
"Federal Election Commission v. Massachusetts Citizens for Life, Inc". Oyez. Retrieved May 16, 2017.

External links

Text of Federal Election Commission v. Massachusetts Citizens for Life, Inc., 479 U.S. 238 (1986) is available from: CourtListener Google Scholar Justia Library of Congress Oyez (oral argument audio)

U.S. Supreme Court Freedom of Speech Clause case law

First Amendment to the United States Constitution

Unprotected speech

Clear and present danger and imminent lawless action	Schenck v. United States (1919) Debs v. United States (1919) Abrams v. United States (1919) Gitlow v. New York (1925) Whitney v. California (1927) Fiske v. Kansas (1927) Dennis v. United States (1951) Communist Party v. Subversive Activities Control Bd. (1955; 1961) Yates v. United States (1957) Bond v. Floyd (1966) Brandenburg v. Ohio (1969) Hess v. Indiana (1973)
Defamation and false speech	New York Times Co. v. Sullivan (1964) Hustler Magazine v. Falwell (1988) United States v. Alvarez (2012) Susan B. Anthony List v. Driehaus (2014)
Fighting words and the heckler's veto	Cantwell v. Connecticut (1940) Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire (1942) Terminiello v. City of Chicago (1949) Feiner v. New York (1951) Gregory v. City of Chicago (1969) Cohen v. California (1971) Nat'l Socialist Party v. Village of Skokie (1977) R.A.V. v. City of St. Paul (1992) Snyder v. Phelps (2011)
True threats and threatening the President of the United States	Virginia v. Black (2003) Elonis v. United States (2015) Counterman v. Colorado (2023)
Obscenity	Rosen v. United States (1896) Roth v. United States (1957) One, Inc. v. Olesen (1958) Smith v. California (1959) Marcus v. Search Warrant (1961) Manual Enterprises, Inc. v. Day (1962) Jacobellis v. Ohio (1964) Quantity of Books v. Kansas (1964) Ginzburg v. United States (1966) Memoirs v. Massachusetts (1966) Redrup v. New York (1967) Ginsberg v. New York (1968) Stanley v. Georgia (1969) United States v. Thirty-seven Photographs (1971) Kois v. Wisconsin (1972) Miller v. California (1973) Paris Adult Theatre I v. Slaton (1973) United States v. 12 200-ft. Reels of Film (1973) Jenkins v. Georgia (1974) Erznoznik v. City of Jacksonville (1975) Young v. American Mini Theatres, Inc. (1976) People v. Freeman (Cal. 1988) United States v. X-Citement Video, Inc. (1994) Reno v. ACLU (1997) United States v. Playboy Entertainment Group, Inc. (2000) City of Los Angeles v. Alameda Books, Inc. (2002) Ashcroft v. American Civil Liberties Union (2002) United States v. American Library Ass'n (2003) United States v. Williams (2008) FCC v. Fox Television Stations, Inc. (2009) United States v. Stevens (2010) Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Ass'n (2011) FCC v. Fox Television Stations, Inc. (2012) Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton (2025)
Speech integral to criminal conduct	New York v. Ferber (1982) Osborne v. Ohio (1990) Ashcroft v. Free Speech Coalition (2002) United States v. Hansen (2023)

Strict scrutiny

Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project (2010)
Williams-Yulee v. Florida Bar (2015)

Overbreadth and
Vagueness doctrines

Smith v. Goguen (1974)
Board of Airport Commissioners v. Jews for Jesus (1987)
Minnesota Voters Alliance v. Mansky (2018)

Symbolic speech
versus conduct

Stromberg v. California (1931)
United States v. O'Brien (1968)
Cohen v. California (1971)
Spence v. Washington (1974)
Clark v. Community for Creative Non-Violence (1984)
Dallas v. Stanglin (1989)
Texas v. Johnson (1989)
United States v. Eichman (1990)
Barnes v. Glen Theatre (1991)
City of Erie v. Pap's A. M. (2000)
Virginia v. Black (2003)

Content-based
restrictions

Lamont v. Postmaster General (1965)
Metromedia, Inc. v. San Diego (1981)
Boos v. Barry (1988)
Simon & Schuster, Inc. v. Crime Victims Board (1991)
R.A.V. v. City of St. Paul (1992)
Reed v. Town of Gilbert (2015)
Barr v. American Association of Political Consultants (2020)
City of Austin v. Reagan National Advertising of Austin, LLC (2022)

Content-neutral
restrictions

Schneider v. New Jersey (1939)
United States v. Albertini (1985)
Renton v. Playtime Theatres, Inc. (1986)
Arcara v. Cloud Books, Inc. (1986)
City of Ladue v. Gilleo (1994)
Packingham v. North Carolina (2017)
TikTok v. Garland (2025)

In the public forum	Davis v. Massachusetts (1897) Hague v. CIO (1939) Thornhill v. Alabama (1940) Martin v. City of Struthers (1943) Niemotko v. Maryland (1951) Edwards v. South Carolina (1963) Cox v. Louisiana (1965) Brown v. Louisiana (1966) Adderley v. Florida (1966) Carroll v. Town of Princess Anne (1968) Coates v. City of Cincinnati (1971) Org. for a Better Austin v. Keefe (1971) Clark v. Community for Creative Non-Violence (1984) Frisby v. Schultz (1988) Ward v. Rock Against Racism (1989) Burson v. Freeman (1992) Madsen v. Women's Health Center, Inc. (1994) Schenck v. Pro-Choice Network of Western New York (1997) Hill v. Colorado (2000) McCullen v. Coakley (2014)
Designated public forum	Widmar v. Vincent (1981) Rosenberger v. Univ. of Virginia (1995) Uzuegbunam v. Preczewski (2021)
Nonpublic forum	Lehman v. Shaker Heights (1974) Perry Education Association v. Perry Local Educators' Association (1983) Cornelius v. NAACP Legal Defense Fund (1985) Arkansas Educational Television Commission v. Forbes (1997) Minnesota Voters Alliance v. Mansky (2018)