Question

What was the Supreme Court’s ruling in Citizens United v Federal Election Commission? What impact did it have on the last Presidential election with regard to campaign spending by corporations and labor unions??

Answer 1

Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, case in which the U.S. Supreme Court on January 21, 2010, ruled (5–4) that laws that prevented corporations and unions from using their general treasury funds for independent “electioneering communications” (political advertising) violated the First Amendment’s guarantee of freedom of speech. In so doing the court invalidated Section 203 of the federal Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 (BCRA)—also known as the McCain-Feingold Act for its sponsors, Sen. John McCain and Sen. Russ Feingold—as well as Section 441(b) of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (FECA), which the BCRA had amended. The court also overturned in whole or in part two previous Supreme Court rulings: Austin v. Michigan Chamber of Commerce (1990) and McConnell v. Federal Election Commission (2003). Immediately perceived as historically important, the decision generated intense controversy outside the court. Some hailed it as a resounding victory for freedom of speech, while others criticized it as an overreaching attempt to rewrite campaign finance law. Among the critics was Pres. Barack Obama, who remarked in his State of the Union address in the House of Representatives one week later that the decision would “open the floodgates for special interests…to spend without limit in our elections.” His criticism provoked one of the Supreme Court justices in attendance, Samuel A. Alito, to break decorum by mouthing the words “not true.”

The case arose in 2008 when Citizens United, a conservative nonprofit corporation, released the documentary Hillary: The Movie, which was highly critical of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, a candidate for the 2008 Democratic nomination for president of the United States. Citizens United wished to distribute the film through video-on-demand services to cable television subscribers within a 30-day period before the start of the 2008 Democratic primary elections and to advertise the film in three specially produced television commercials.

The BCRA, however, had expanded the scope of FECA’s ban on corporate and union contributions and expenditures “in connection with” political elections (Section 441[b]) to include “electioneering communications” paid for with corporate or union general treasury funds (Section 203). It defined “electioneering communications” as “any broadcast, cable, or satellite communication” that “refers to a clearly identified candidate for Federal office” and is made within 60 days before a general election or 30 days before a primary election. Neither FECA’s Section 441(b) nor BCRA’s Section 203 prohibited corporations or unions from engaging in electioneering communication or expressing advocacy by means of political action committees (PACs), which are funded through the voluntary contributions of individuals. In McConnell v. Federal Election Commission, the Supreme Court Upheld Section 203 as constitutional. McConnell, in turn, relied on the court’s finding in Austin v. Michigan Chamber of Commerce that the government may prohibit corporations from using general treasury funds for independent political expenditures (expenditures that are not coordinated with any political campaign) as a means of preventing corporations from “distorting” the political process and to reduce corruption or the appearance of corruption.

Anticipating that the Federal Election Commission (FEC) would impose penalties, Citizens United sought an injunction in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., alleging that Section 203 was unconstitutional as applied to Hillary because the film did not fit the law’s definition of an electioneering communication and because it did not constitute“ express advocacy [for or against a candidate] or its functional equivalent,” as required by the court’s decision in Federal Election Commission v. Wisconsin Right to Life, Inc. (2007). Citizens United argued further that provisions of the BCRA requiring the filing of disclosure statements and the clear identification of sponsors of election-related advertising were unconstitutional as applied to Hillary and to the television commercials it planned to air. (Such “as-applied” challenges to the constitutionality of a statute are distinct from “facial” challenges, which allege that a statute is unconstitutional on its face.)