Campaign+Finance+Assignment

The History of Campaign Finance Reform in the United States of America

Assignment Overview: Follow the hyperlinks below to help you answer each question. You will discover how laws, scandals, and court decisions have helped limit money’s powerful influence in politics.

Great Internet Resources:

1. SIRS [|Timeline]à Username & Password = pgcps 2. [|NPR’s] Timeline of Campaign Finance Reform 3. The [|Campaign Legal Center] 4. Campaign Finance [|Glossary] 5. The [|Oyez Project]

Timeline Questions: 1. What year was the [|Tillman Act] passed? How did the Tillman Act affect the financing of political campaigns?

2. How did the [|Taft-Hartley] Act (1947) limit campaign contributions?

3. Describe the most important legal provisions of the [|Federal Elections Campaign Act (FECA)][|of 1971].

4. What causes the changes to FECA in [|1974]? List the amendments made to FECA in 1974.

5. How did the Supreme Court case [|Buckley v. Valeo][|(1976)] affect campaign finance reform?

6. Describe the most important legal provisions of the [|Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act] (2002) aka ‘McCain-Feingold Act’.

7. How did the Supreme Court case [|McConnell v. FEC][|(2003)] change the ‘McCain-Feingold Act’?

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">8. How did the Supreme Court case [|Federal][| Election Commission v. Wisconsin Right to Life, Inc.] (2007) change the ‘McCain-Feingold Act’?

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">9. Explain how the [|Citizens United][|v.][|Federal Election Commission](2010) expands the ability for more [|money] to affect elections.