In the Citizens United v. FEC case, the Supreme Court today overturned longstanding rules restricting corporate spending in political campaigns. The Wa Po reports:
The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that corporations may spend as freely as they like to support or oppose candidates for president and Congress, easing decades-old limits on business efforts to influence federal campaigns.I'll get my hands on the opinion and have more comments ASAP. I'm curious to see if there's any theorizing about the nature of the corporation in the opinion. I'm also curious to see why independent expenditures are allowed, but direct contributions are not.
By a 5-4 vote, the court overturned a 20-year-old ruling that said companies can be prohibited from using money from their general treasuries to produce and run their own campaign ads. The decision, which almost certainly will also allow labor unions to participate more freely in campaigns, threatens similar limits imposed by 24 states.
It leaves in place a prohibition on direct contributions to candidates from corporations and unions. ...
The justices also struck down part of the landmark McCain-Feingold campaign finance bill that barred union- and corporate-paid issue ads in the closing days of election campaigns. ...
The decision removes limits on independent expenditures that are not coordinated with candidates' campaigns.
