Why Are You Here? by Kury Franklin L.;

Author:Kury, Franklin L.;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: undefined
Publisher: UPA
Published: 2012-08-15T00:00:00+00:00

The Citizens United Case and State Campaign Finance Law

In the now famous Citizens United vs. FEC case, the Supreme Court of the United States ruling made a significant change in both federal and state campaign finance law. The court ruled that as a matter of free speech under the First Amendment, the federal government may not prohibit or limit independent expenditures by corporations and unions on elections, or independent money spent apart from the candidates and their party committees.[7] Independent expenditures cannot be coordinated with the campaigns of the candidate. Contributions to candidates and their committees may be prohibited, but independent expenditures on elections may not be.

NCSL has reported that in 17 of the 24 states with laws affected by Citizens United, bills have been offered to amend their laws dealing with campaign expenditures by corporations and non-profit organizations. The NCSL website provides a link to the bills introduced.[8] See the NCSL Website for a state-by-state summary of how state laws are affected by the Citizens United case.

Some states have issued statements or opinions on the impact of the Citizens United case on that state’s law. In Pennsylvania the Department of State has posted a statement declaring that Section 1633(a) of the Pennsylvania Election Code cannot be administered constitutionally to prohibit a domestic corporation or unincorporated association from making “independent expenditures.” In every other respect the state law “remains in full force and effect.”[9] Montana is the only state to challenge the applicability of the Citizens United opinion to itself. It lost. The Montana Supreme Court had ruled 5–2 with a 29-page majority opinion explaining its decision not to apply the Citizens United case to Montana’s anti-corruption act prohibiting corporate political contributions.[10] This law was enacted in 1912 as an initiative and referendum proposal by a public outraged by the blatant corruption of the state government by the copper-mining companies at the turn of the 19th century. The U.S. Supreme Court reversed the Montana Supreme Court decision summarily, in a one-paragraph per curiam opinion.[11]

The Supreme Court of Montana in 2011. It was the only state supreme court to challenge the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Citizens United v. FEC. The Montana court ruled 5-2 in 2011 that the Citizens United case did not apply to Montana’s campaign finance law. The U.S. Supreme Court summarily rejected this.

Source: courts.mt.gov/supreme/default.mcpx.

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