Columbia Law School Scholarship Archive Faculty Scholarship Faculty Publications 2005 The 527 Problem . And the Buckley Problem Richard Briffault Columbia Law School,
[email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarship.law.columbia.edu/faculty_scholarship Part of the Constitutional Law Commons, and the Law and Politics Commons Recommended Citation Richard Briffault, The 527 Problem . And the Buckley Problem, GEORGE WASHINGTON LAW REVIEW, VOL. 73, P. 949, 2005; COLUMBIA PUBLIC LAW RESEARCH PAPER NO. 05-96 (2005). Available at: https://scholarship.law.columbia.edu/faculty_scholarship/1391 This Working Paper is brought to you for free and open access by the Faculty Publications at Scholarship Archive. It has been accepted for inclusion in Faculty Scholarship by an authorized administrator of Scholarship Archive. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. Columbia Law School Public Law & Legal Theory Working Paper Group Paper Number 05-96 THE 527 PROBLEM . AND THE BUCKLEY PROBLEM BY: PROFESSOR RICHARD BRIFFAULT COLUMBIA LAW SCHOOL This paper can be downloaded without charge from the Social Science Research Network electronic library at: http://ssrn.com/abstract=846384 BRIFFAULT_SME2 9/20/2005 6:45 PM The 527 Problem . and the Buckley Problem Richard Briffault* I. Introduction In the world of campaign finance, 2004 was without a doubt the year of the 527 organization. No other aspect of campaign financing received as much press coverage or public attention as the rise of the 527s.1 Expenditures by 527s—named after the section of the Internal Revenue Code under which they are organized2—active in federal elections amounted to at least $405 million, accounting for more than one-tenth of total federal election spending and perhaps twenty to twenty-five percent of spending in the presidential campaign.3 Federal Election Commission * Joseph P.