Montana Supreme Court ruling reversed by SCOTUS
June 25, 2012
Montana: In a 5 to 4 ruling, the Supreme Court of the United States this morning announced the reversal of a decision from the Montana Supreme Court regarding campaign finance. In October 2011, a group challenged a Montana state law that read:
| “ | ... a corporation may not make . . . an expenditure in connection with a candidate or a political committee that supports or opposes a candidate or a political party[1] | ” |
stating that it was a violation of the First Amendment right to speech. The group, American Tradition Partnership, challenged the law on the basis of the Supreme Court's 2010 decision in Citizens United. In that decision, the high court said:
| “ | ...political speech does not lose First Amendment protection simply because its source is a corporation.[1] | ” |
Today the Supreme Court said that Montana's state law is superseded by federal law and the argument of the state gave no cause for exception.[2]
Dissenting Justices Breyer, Ginsburg, Sotomayor and Kagan disagreed with today's ruling along the same lines as the dissent in Citizens United.[2]
To read the full ruling, visit: Supreme Court of the United States, American Tradition Partnership, Inc v. Steve Bullock.
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