The Supreme Court has just overturned large portions of the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform law that passed in 2002, ruling in a 5-4 decision that limits and prohibitions on corporate independent expenditures and issue ads violate a company's right to political speech.
From The Washington Post, "Supreme Court rejects limits on corporate spending in electoral campaigns",
"When government seeks to use its full power, including the criminal law, to command where a person may get his or her information or what distrusted source he or she may not hear, it uses censorship to control thought," the court said in a decision written by Justice Anthony M. Kennedy. "This is unlawful. The First Amendment confirms the freedom to think for ourselves."
President Obama sharply criticized the decision, saying it gives "a green light to a new stampede of special interest money in our politics" and represents "a major victory for big oil, Wall Street banks, health insurance companies and other powerful interests...."
The ruling is also expected to lift similar restrictions on organized labor. The President must have forgotten to include them in the aforementioned "stampede".
CIANJ applauds the decision as one that upholds associations' right to free speech regarding candidates for elected office. The full opinion is available here.
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