{"id":3321,"date":"2010-01-21T16:11:37","date_gmt":"2010-01-21T21:11:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/?p=3321"},"modified":"2010-01-21T16:28:04","modified_gmt":"2010-01-21T21:28:04","slug":"highlights-from-citizens-united-v-fec","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/3321\/highlights-from-citizens-united-v-fec\/","title":{"rendered":"Highlights from Citizens United v. FEC"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rather than trudge through the entire 183-page decision<\/span><\/a> in Citizens United<\/em>, here are a few choice passages from the opinion. Enjoy.<\/p>\n

As amended by \u00a7203 of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 (BCRA), federal law prohibits corporations and unions from using their general treasury funds to make independent expenditures for speech that is an \u201celectioneering communication\u201d or for speech that expressly advocates the election or defeat of a candidate.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In January 2008, appellant Citizens United, a nonprofit corporation, released a documentary (hereinafter Hillary) critical of then-Senator Hillary Clinton, a candidate for her party\u2019s Presidential nomination. Anticipating that it would make Hillary available on cable television through video-on-demand within 30 days of primary elections. It feared, however, that both the film and the ads would be covered by \u00a7441b\u2019s ban on corporate funded independent expenditures, thus subjecting the corporation to civil and criminal penalties under \u00a7437g.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

There are short timeframes in which speech can have influence. The need or relevance of the speech will often first be apparent at this stage in the campaign. The decision to speak is made in the heat of political campaigns, when speakers react to messages conveyed by others. A speaker\u2019s ability to engage in political speech that could have a chance of persuading voters is stifled if the speaker must first commence a protracted lawsuit.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In McConnell v. Federal Election Comm\u2019n<\/em>, this Court upheld limits on electioneering communications in a facial challenge, relying on the holding in Austin v. Michigan Chamber of Commerce<\/em>, that political speech may be banned based on the speaker\u2019s corporate identity. Austin<\/em> \u201cuph[eld] a direct restriction on the independent expenditure of funds for political speech for the first time in [this Court\u2019s] history.\u201d There, the Michigan Chamber of Commerce sought to use general treasury funds to run a newspaper ad supporting a specific candidate. Michigan law, however, prohibited corporate independent expenditures that supported or opposed any candidate for state office.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Austin<\/em> is overruled, and thus provides no basis for allowing the Government to limit corporate independent expenditures.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The First Amendment prohibits Congress from fining or jailing citizens, or associations of citizens, for engaging in political speech, but Austin\u2019s<\/em> antidistortion rationale would permit the Government to ban political speech because the speaker is an association with a corporate form.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Austin<\/em> interferes with the \u201copen marketplace\u201dof ideas protected by the First Amendment. Its censorship is vast in its reach, suppressing the speech of both for-profit and nonprofit, both small and large, corporations.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Political speech is so ingrained in this country\u2019s culture that speakers find ways around campaign finance laws. Rapid changes in technology\u2014and the creative dynamic inherent in the concept of free expression\u2014counsel against upholding a law that restricts political speech in certain media or by certain speakers.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The Government may regulate corporate political speech through disclaimer and disclosure requirements, but it may not suppress that speech altogether.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rather than trudge through the entire 183-page decision in Citizens United, here are a few choice passages from the opinion. Enjoy. As amended by \u00a7203 of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 (BCRA), federal law prohibits corporations and unions from using their general treasury funds to make independent expenditures for speech that is an […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[100,94,716,92,284],"class_list":["post-3321","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-posts","tag-citizens-united","tag-citizens-united-v-fec","tag-first-amendment","tag-supreme-court","tag-u-s-supreme-court"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3321","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3321"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3321\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3323,"href":"https:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3321\/revisions\/3323"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3321"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3321"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3321"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}