Supreme Court Rules Against Regulations of Corporate Electioneering

The U.S. Supreme Court dealt a sharp blow today to campaign finance laws when it ruled in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commissions that corporations may funnel money into electing politicians.

The Associated Press reports that by a 5-4 ruling, the Supreme Court "overturned a 20-year-old ruling that said corporations can be prohibited from using money from their general treasuries to pay for their own campaign ads." The Citizens United decision, the AP reports, leaves untouched "the prohibition on direct contributions to candidates from corporations and unions."

Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote the majority opinion, which was joined by Chief Justice John Roberts, Justices Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito. "If the First Amendment has any force, it prohibits Congress from fining or jailing citizens, or associations of citizens, for simply engaging in political speech," Kennedy wrote.

Joined by Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer and Sonia Sotomayor, Justice John Paul Stevens authored the dissent, writing, "The court's ruling threatens to undermine the integrity of elected institutions around the nation." 

For ACS resources on Citizens United v. FEC, see here. Also check out a debate over the constitutional rights of corporations between David Gans of the Constitutional Accountability Center (CAC) and Michael Greve of the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research (AEI) here.

Democracy 21 President Fred Wertheimer has initial reaction to the decision for ACSblog here. More guest posts on the decision are forthcoming.