Unit Six: Civil Rights and Civil Liberties

“AP News Break: 22 States Join Campaign Finance Fight”

http://www.centurylink.net/news/read.php?id=18941618&ps=1017&cat=&cps=0&lang=en

Synopsis: Montana is fighting to keep its state laws that restrict corporate campaign spending. Twenty-two states have joined Montana in its efforts to prevent the Supreme Court from ruling against them. The Supreme Court will most likely use the controversial court case Citizens United as its basis for reversing a state court’s decision the upheld the Montana law. An interest group called American Tradition Partnership wants the Supreme Court to rule without a hearing because they believe that the state law conflicts with the Court’s previous ruling in Citizens United. However, Montana and the other twenty-two states supporting them say that the ruling in Citizens United does not apply to them because it only applies to presidential and congressional elections. Also, Montana’s law does not ban corporate political speech, but regulates it by requiring corporations to create political action committees (PACs).

Analysis: This article illustrates how the Citizens United court decision has continued to spark controversy in politics. In the decision the Supreme Court ruled that money equals free speech and that corporations could donate money to presidential and congressional campaigns. There are those that believe that this unlimited corporate campaign funding could cause corruption in the political system. The Montana law is in conflict this decision because it makes corporations donate to campaigns through PACs. Also, this article shows how interest groups try to influence court decisions in their favor. In this case, American Tradition Partnership is trying to influence the Supreme Court to rule against Montana in the case. It is probable that this interest group wrote an amicus curiae brief to argue their opinion and to convince the justices to rule that way.