I expect to leave the serious analysis to people who have studied the
issues more extensively and carefully than I.  At the most superficial
level, however, perhaps the following trivia will be of interest, given
the rather similar circumstances in which Buckley and McConnell were
litigated and presented to the Court.

The Court took just slightly longer to decide McConnell than Buckley,
and wrote just slightly more.  But the dissents were twice as long this
time around.

Here are the specifics:

BUCKLEY
Syllabus:  5 pp.
Opinion of the Court:  138 pp.
Dissents:  60 pp.
Pending:  81 days

MCCONNELL:
Syllabus:  20 pp.
Opinions for the Court:  146 pp.
Dissents:  122 pp.
Pending:  93 days

These figures don't count the 90 pages reprinting FECA in Buckley and
the 11 pages (2 appended to Breyer's opinion, 9 to Kennedy's) reprinting
parts of BCRA in McConnell.

So much for the appetizers.  Others may now proceed to the entrees.

Ron Levin

Ronald M. Levin
Henry Hitchcock Professor of Law
Washington University School of Law
Campus Box 1120
St. Louis, MO 63130
Ph: (314) 935-6490
Fax: (314) 935-5356
levin@wulaw.wustl.edu