Ban on Corporate, Union Campaign Money Swept Aside by 5-4 Supreme Court Decision

Long-standing limits on corporate and union spending in federal election campaigns were swept aside by the U.S. Supreme Court Jan. 21 in a decision overturning laws and court precedents tracing back to 1907 (Citizens United v. FEC).

The court in a 5-4 majority opinion authored by Justice Anthony Kennedy ruled that the First Amendment protects corporations in the same way as it protects individuals in terms of their ability to spend money independently of candidates to influence campaigns. Kennedy said that controls on such spending amount to “censorship to control speech.”

The court’s more conservative justices joined Kennedy’s ...