2 U.S.C. § 261
Section 261 · 261 to 270. Repealed. Pub. L. 10465, 11(a), Dec. 19, 1995, 109 Stat. 701
Amended 1 time on record
Applied in 17 court decisions — leading case New Jersey State Chamber of Commerce v. New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission (1980)
Most recently applied in Taylor Thiemann & Aitken v. Hayes (June 1992)
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment, consequential amendments, and circuit splits over this section — watch for a citation surge after a change or a disagreement. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
When used in this chapter—
(a) The term “contribution” includes a gift, subscription, loan, advance, or deposit of money or anything of value and includes a contract, promise, or agreement, whether or not legally enforceable, to make a contribution.
(b) The term “expenditure” includes a payment, distribution, loan, advance, deposit, or gift of money or anything of value, and includes a contract, promise, or agreement, whether or not legally enforceable, to make an expenditure.
(c) The term “person” includes an individual, partnership, committee, association, corporation, and any other organization or group of persons.
(d) The term “Clerk” means the Clerk of the House of Representatives of the United States.
(e) The term “legislation” means bills, resolutions, amendments, nominations, and other matters pending or proposed in either House of Congress, and includes any other matter which may be the subject of action by either House.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Short Title
Section 301 of title III of act Aug. 2, 1946, provided that: “This title [enacting this chapter] may be cited as the ‘Federal Regulation of Lobbying Act’.”
Authorization of Appropriations
Section 244 of act Aug. 2, 1946, provided in part: “All necessary funds required to carry out the provisions of this Act [Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946, see Short Title note set out under section 72a of this title for classification], by the Secretary of the Senate and the Clerk of the House, are hereby authorized to be appropriated.”
[Section 244 was made effective as of Aug. 2, 1946, by section 245 of act Aug. 2, 1946, set out as a note under section 72a of this title.]