Should the First Amendment Provide Greater Protection for Political Parties Than for Other Groups?

In yesterday’s campaign-finance argument, NRSC v. FEC, several Justices asked whether, if the Court held that the First Amendment did not permit limits on political parties’ coordinated expenditures with their candidates, whether that meant coordinated limits for other groups, such as PACs, would also be unconstitutional. This question asks, in essence, whether parties should be understood to have distinct and more protective First Amendment interests in the election process than other groups.

The question was not engaged in a sustained way in the argument. The Court has decided a number of cases involving the First Amendment rights of political parties, but it has never had to answer a question of this sort before — though there a couple hints in the cases that might be taken to sugges