2 U.S.C. § 437H
Section 437h · Judicial review
This is § 310 of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971
Amended 5 times on record
Applied in 91 court decisions — leading case Buckley v. Valeo (1976)
Most recently applied in 417 App. D.C. 1 - Wendy Wagner v. Federal Election Commission (July 2015)
Applied most in the District Circuit Circuit (30 decisions)
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.
The Commission, the national committee of any political party, or any individual eligible to vote in any election for the office of President may institute such actions in the appropriate district court of the United States, including actions for declaratory judgment, as may be appropriate to construe the constitutionality of any provision of this Act. The district court immediately shall certify all questions of constitutionality of this Act to the United States court of appeals for the circuit involved, which shall hear the matter sitting en banc.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
References in Text
This Act, referred to in text, means the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971, as amended, as defined by section 431 of this title.
Amendments
1988—Pub. L. 100–352 struck out “(a)” before “The Commission” and struck out subsec. (b) which read as follows: “Notwithstanding any other provision of law, any decision on a matter certified under subsection (a) of this section shall be reviewable by appeal directly to the Supreme Court of the United States. Such appeal shall be brought no later than 20 days after the decision of the court of appeals.”
1984—Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 98–620 struck out subsec. (c) which provided for advancement on appellate docket and expedited disposition of any matter certified under subsec. (a) of this section.
1980—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 96–187, §112(c), struck out “of the United States” after “office of President”.
1976—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 94–283, §115(e), struck out references to sections 608, 610, 611, 613, 614, 615, 616, and 617 of title 18.
Effective Date of 1988 Amendment
Amendment by Pub. L. 100–352 effective ninety days after June 27, 1988, except that such amendment not to apply to cases pending in Supreme Court on such effective date or affect right to review or manner of reviewing judgment or decree of court which was entered before such effective date, see section 7 of Pub. L. 100–352, set out as a note under section 1254 of Title 28, Judiciary and Judicial Procedure.
Effective Date of 1984 Amendment
Amendment by Pub. L. 98–620 not applicable to cases pending on Nov. 8, 1984, see section 403 of Pub. L. 98–620, set out as an Effective Date note under section 1657 of Title 28, Judiciary and Judicial Procedure.
Effective Date of 1980 Amendment
Amendment by Pub. L. 96–187 effective Jan. 8, 1980, see section 301(a) of Pub. L. 96–187, set out as a note under section 431 of this title.
Effective Date
Section effective Jan. 1, 1975, see section 410(a) of Pub. L. 93–443, set out as an Effective Date of 1974 Amendment note under section 431 of this title.