Davis v. FEC

Decided June 26, 2008. Samuel A. Alito Jr. delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 07-320 · 554 U.S. 724 (2008) · Cited 1,183 times

We don’t yet publish a summary of this opinion — read the official text below for the Court’s holding and reasoning.

How the Justices voted

Decided 5–4.

“Concurring” means agreeing with the outcome; any split shown is the Court’s judgment, not each Justice’s reasoning. Source: the Supreme Court Database (Spaeth et al.), Washington University.

Precedents cited

Supreme Court decisions this opinion relies on, ordered by how often it cites each. Cases in our collection link through; others are named.

• Buckley v. Valeo · 424 U.S. 1 (1976)
• McConnell v. Federal Election Commission · 540 U.S. 93 (2003)
• Austin v. Michigan State Chamber of Commerce · 494 U.S. 652 (1990)
• Randall v. Sorrell · 548 U.S. 230 (2006)
• Nixon v. Shrink Missouri Government PAC · 528 U.S. 377 (2000)
• Arizonans for Official English v. Arizona · 520 U.S. 43 (1997)
• Federal Election Commission v. Wisconsin Right to Life, Inc. · 551 U.S. 449 (2007)
• Colorado Republican Federal Campaign Committee v. Federal Election Commission · 518 U.S. 604 (1996)
• Lujan v. Defenders of Wildlife · 504 U.S. 555 (1992)
• Friends of the Earth, Inc. v. Laidlaw Environmental Services (TOC), Inc. · 528 U.S. 167 (2000)
• First Nat. Bank of Boston v. Bellotti · 435 U.S. 765 (1978)
• Federal Election Commission v. National Conservative Political Action Committee · 470 U.S. 480 (1985)
• Federal Election Commission v. Massachusetts Citizens for Life, Inc. · 479 U.S. 238 (1986)
• Federal Election Commission v. Colorado Republican Federal Campaign Committee · 533 U.S. 431 (2001)
• Lewis v. Casey · 518 U.S. 343 (1996)
• City of Los Angeles v. Lyons · 461 U.S. 95 (1983)
• Spencer v. Kemna · 523 U.S. 1 (1998)
• DaimlerChrysler Corp. v. Cuno · 547 U.S. 332 (2006)
• Babbitt v. United Farm Workers National Union · 442 U.S. 289 (1979)
• Red Lion Broadcasting Co. v. Federal Communications Commission · 395 U.S. 367 (1969)
• Pacific Gas & Electric Co. v. Public Utilities Commission · 475 U.S. 1 (1986)
• United States v. International Union United Automobile, Aircraft & Agricultural Implement Workers · 352 U.S. 567 (1957)

Cited by

Later Supreme Court opinions in our collection that cite this case.

• McCutcheon v. Federal Election Comm'n · 572 U.S. 185 (2014)
• Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission · 558 U.S. 310 (2010)
• Clapper v. Amnesty International USA · 568 U.S. 398 (2013)
• Federal Election Comm'n v. Ted Cruz · 596 U.S. 289 (2022)
• Department of Commerce v. New York · 588 U.S. 752 (2019)
• Town of Chester v. Laroe Estates, Inc. · 581 U.S. 433 (2017)
• TransUnion LLC v. Ramirez · 594 U.S. 413 (2021)
• Gutierrez v. Saenz · 606 U.S. 305 (2025)
• Murphy v. National Collegiate Athletic Assn. · 584 U.S. 453 (2018)
• Americans for Prosperity Foundation v. Bonta · 594 U.S. 595 (2021)

Official text

Read the official opinion (U.S. Reports, govinfo.gov)

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Samuel A. Alito Jr.’s profile · All Supreme Court opinions · The Supreme Court

Source: the U.S. Reports via govinfo.gov; authoring Justice and vote lineup from the Supreme Court Database (Washington University). Citation count from the Free Law Project’s CourtListener bulk data. Data last verified 2026-07-03. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).