Elections+and+the+Media

Held that restrictions on candidate and election funding did not violate the First Amendment as it improve the Democratic System. However, the restrictions of private funds by the candidates (or the candidates family) was declared unconstitutional. This case was important to elections because it limited the amount of money people could spend to influence an election. It started when Congress passed amendments to the Election Campaign Act of 1971, which was the first major effort to regulate campaign spending. The Court sided with these changes for individual contribution to election campaigns, but they also ruled that spending money on elections is a form of free speech that is protected under the Constitution, so they did give the right to give some money to an election.
 * Buckely v. Valeo**

This case was important to the black population because it gave them the right to vote in primary elections. It began when Lonnie Smith sued because his right to vote in the primaries was being denied by the democratic party. Judge Thurgood Marshall presided over the case, stating that primary elections must be open to votes of all races.
 * Smith v. Allwright (1944)**