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In the News: U.S. Supreme Court Issues Campaign Finance Decision
02/28/10
On January 21, 2010, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a ruling that removed several longstanding restrictions on political spending by corporations and unions. In the case of Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, the justices ruled 5-4 that the FEC violated the First Amendment rights of business and labor interests by prohibiting such entities from engaging in political speech that directly supported or opposed a candidate for office. The majority opinion, written by Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, essentially said that corporations had the same right to free speech as individuals. “The right of citizens to inquire, to hear, to speak, and to use information to reach consensus is a precondition to enlightened self-government and a necessary means to protect it,” he wrote. (We are unable to display the text of the document at this time. To view the text of the opinion, please visit this website: http://www.supremecourtus.gov/opinions/09pdf/08-205.pdf.)
The ruling overturned important precedents pertaining to the 2002 McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform law, which banned the broadcast of “electioneering communications” paid for by unions or corporations in the period leading up to political elections. In a passionate, 90-page dissent, Justice John Paul Stevens claimed that the ruling “threatens to undermine the integrity of elected institutions across the nation.” He argued that allowing powerful corporations to spend freely to promote political candidates and campaigns would drown out the voice of ordinary Americans, unduly influence election results, and corrupt the democratic process.
Justice Kennedy’s majority opinion was joined by Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas, and Antonin Scalia. Justice Stevens’s dissent was joined by Justices Stephen G. Breyer, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and Sonia Sotomayor.