The U.S. Supreme Court not only reaffirmed its ludicrous Citizens United position on Monday. It made damn sure that it applies to every state of the union.
Montana’s state supreme court had challenged the flimsy basis of Citizens United: the ludicrous claim that independent expenditures don’t give rise to corruption, or even the appearance of corruption. Citing a long train of corporate involvement in elections prior to the state law 100 years ago that banned it, the Montana high court said that its history demonstrated the need for restrictions on corporate campaign contributions.
But the Supremes would not be budged—at least the five conservative jurists, who, in a per curiam ruling, overturned the Montana court’s decision in American Tradition Partnership v. Bullock.
Justice Breyer, writing for the four dissenting justices, cited Justice John Paul Stevens’s dissent in Citizens United. Stevens wrote back then that “technically independent expenditures can be corrupting in much the same way as direct contributions.”
Breyer added “Moreover, even if I were to accept Citizens United, this
Court’s legal conclusion should not bar the Montana Supreme Court’s finding, made on the record before it, that independent expenditures by corporations did in fact lead to corruption or the appearance of corruption in Montana. Given the history and political landscape in Montana, that court concluded that the State had a compelling interest in limiting independent expenditures by corporations.”
He added: “Thus, Montana’s experience, like considerable experience elsewhere since the Court’s decision in Citizens United, casts grave doubt on the Court’s supposition that independent expenditures do not corrupt or appear to do so.”
Breyer also observed that, given the majority’s decision, “I do not see a significant possibility of reconsideration” of Citizens United.
That won’t happen until there is a different composition on the Court, which is one of the main reelection arguments Barack Obama has going for him.
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