argues that in deciding McCutcheon, the Court should be guided by its prior decision in Buckley v. Valeo. 4 In Buckley, the Court held that the government's interest in preventing actual corruption or the appearance of corruption outweighed competing First Amendment interests, and for that reason the Buckley Court upheld federal statutory campaign contribution limits. To be sure, Buckley was not an "originalist" opinion: the Court did not assert that its "corruption" rationale was part of the Framers' eighteenth century plan. Professor Lessig argues that when deciding the reach of Buckley's corruption rationale, the Court should be guided by the Framers' understanding of "corruption," as opposed to the modern one announced in Buckley. 5 Lessig's position has been criticized on theoretical grounds: it is neither
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