Episode 45: The Enduring Legacy of Buckley v. Valeo

January 30, 2026, marked the 50th anniversary of the Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Buckley v. Valeo. To commemorate the anniversary, the Institute for Free Speech convened a panel to reflect on the history of the case and its enduring legacy. Moderated by Kim Strassel of The Wall Street Journal, the panel discussion featured the insights of Bradley A. Smith, Joel Gora, and Eugene Volokh.  

About the panel: 

• Brad Smith is the Founder & Chairman of the Institute for Free Speech and a former Chairman of the Federal Election Commission. He is one of the nation’s foremost experts on campaign finance law and the First Amendment. 
• Joel Gora is a Professor of Law at Brooklyn Law School and a former attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union. While at the ACLU, Joel was one of three advocates that argued against the law challenged in Buckley v. Valeo before the Supreme Court. 
• Eugene Volokh is a legal scholar who is the Thomas M. Siebel Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University and the co-founder of the popular legal blog the Volokh Conspiracy. 
• Kim Strassel is a member of the Wall Street Journal editorial board. She writes the  All Things with Kim Strassel newsletter and hosts the associated podcast by the same name. 

Resources: 

• Buckley v. Valeo blog series 
  • Expert Panel: A Discussion of the Historic Buckley v. Valeo Decision 
  • Buckley v. Valeo: A Retrospective Series, by David Keating 
  • The Buckley Principles, by Lee Goodman 
  • The Enduring Legacy of Buckley v. Valeo, by Floyd Abrams 
  • Buckley v. Valeo is Not What Ails American Democracy, by Ilya Somin 
  • American Democracy and the Actuality of Corruption, by Jeff Milyo 
  • Buckley and the Appearance of Corruption Standard, by David Primo 
  • Life without Buckley v. Valeo, by John Samples 
  • Express Advocacy at 50, by Allison Hayward 
  • Celebrating Buckley v. Valeo: A Landmark of Political Freedom, by Joel Gora 
  • James L. Buckley: The Man and His Principles, by Roger Pilon 
  • Effective Advocacy, by Allen Dickerson 
  • To Buckley v. Valeo: The Decision that Saved Democracy, by Bradley A. Smith 
• Original Buckley v. Valeo oral argument audio 
• Expert panel transcript (Note: The transcript was automatically generated. Please excuse any typos or transcription inaccuracies.) 

Listen to the panel here:    

The Institute for Free Speech promotes and defends the political speech rights to freely speak, assemble, publish, and petition the government guaranteed by the First Amendment. If you’re enjoying the Free Speech Arguments podcast, please subscribe and leave a review on your preferred podcast platform.