Federal Election Commission v. James E. Akins, Richard Curtiss, Paul Findley, Robert J. Hanks, Andrew Killgore, and Orin Parker

Decided June 1, 1998. Stephen Gerald Breyer delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 96-1590 · 524 U.S. 11 (1998) · Cited 845 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 6–3.

“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.

• United States v. Richardson · 418 U.S. 166 (1974)
• Lujan v. Defenders of Wildlife · 504 U.S. 555 (1992)
• Buckley v. Valeo · 424 U.S. 1 (1976)
• Flast v. Cohen · 392 U.S. 83 (1968)
• Heckler v. Chaney · 470 U.S. 821 (1985)
• Schlesinger v. Reservists Committee to Stop the War · 418 U.S. 208 (1974)
• Warth v. Seldin · 422 U.S. 490 (1975)
• Allen v. Wright · 468 U.S. 737 (1984)
• Bennett v. Spear · 520 U.S. 154 (1997)
• Association of Data Processing Service Organizations, Inc. v. Camp · 397 U.S. 150 (1970)
• Public Citizen v. United States Department of Justice · 491 U.S. 440 (1989)
• Coleman v. Miller · 307 U.S. 433 (1939)
• Citizens to Preserve Overton Park, Inc. v. Volpe · 401 U.S. 402 (1971)
• Abbott Laboratories v. Gardner · 387 U.S. 136 (1967)
• Valley Forge Christian College v. Americans United for Separation of Church and State, Inc. · 454 U.S. 464 (1982)
• Securities & Exchange Commission v. Chenery Corp. · 318 U.S. 80 (1943)
• Aetna Life Insurance v. Haworth · 300 U.S. 227 (1937)
• Havens Realty Corp. v. Coleman · 455 U.S. 363 (1982)
• Raines v. Byrd · 521 U.S. 811 (1997)
• Massachusetts v. Mellon · 262 U.S. 447 (1923)
• Edward J. DeBartolo Corp. v. Florida Gulf Coast Building & Construction Trades Council · 485 U.S. 568 (1988)
• Perkins v. Lukens Steel Co. · 310 U.S. 113 (1940)
• Federal Communications Commission v. Sanders Bros. Radio Station · 309 U.S. 470 (1940)
• Scripps-Howard Radio, Inc. v. Federal Communications Commission · 316 U.S. 4 (1942)
• Federal Election Commission v. Massachusetts Citizens for Life, Inc. · 479 U.S. 238 (1986)
• Federal Election Commission v. National Conservative Political Action Committee · 470 U.S. 480 (1985)
• National Credit Union Administration v. First National Bank & Trust Co. · 522 U.S. 479 (1998)
• Shaw v. Hunt · 517 U.S. 899 (1996)
• Colorado Republican Federal Campaign Committee v. Federal Election Commission · 518 U.S. 604 (1996)

Cited by

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

• Spokeo, Inc. v. Robins · 578 U.S. 330 (2016)
• Massachusetts v. Environmental Protection Agency · 549 U.S. 497 (2007)
• Hein v. Freedom From Religion Foundation, Inc. · 551 U.S. 587 (2007)
• Thole v. U. S. Bank N. A. · 590 U.S. 538 (2020)
• TransUnion LLC v. Ramirez · 594 U.S. 413 (2021)
• United States v. Texas · 599 U.S. 670 (2023)
• Utah v. Evans · 536 U.S. 452 (2002)
• Gutierrez v. Saenz · 606 U.S. 305 (2025)
• National Park Hospitality Association v. Department of the Interior · 538 U.S. 803 (2003)
• FDA v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine · 602 U.S. 367 (2024)
• Carney v. Adams · 592 U.S. 53 (2020)

Official text

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

Explore from here

Stephen Gerald Breyer’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).