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One of the issues with the McCain-Fiengold bill was that it banned political adds from non-profits, as well as corporations and labor groups within 60 days of an election. That had the effect of silencing grass-roots issue-based ads, and put all the control of what was heard prior to an election into the hands of the media and the parties buying adds. So, for example, if a candidate was anti-gun, the NRA couldn't sponsor an add airing the candidates position. Or if a candidate had a poor record on civil rights, the NAACP or ACLU couldn't air their positions. It's not clear from the article if this issue was addressed in the ruling.
Well, except that just about every big corporation in the US is incorporated in Delaware. And Delaware's Court of Chancery would never consider something like that.
I can't help but notice that in this thread, the usual leftists' slavering desire to hurt and destroy the people they whine are somehow "oppressing" them, is far more important to them than protecting the freedoms described in the Constitution.
Apparently the 1st amendment is only important to them when it protects rights THEY want to use. When it protects all American's rights, they are eager to ignore it or throw it out.
And these people think they are the ones who should be running our country?
Another brick in the wall of liberal government control of speech, has been eliminated. Or most of it, anyway.
One of the longest-lasting legacies of any President, is the judicial appointments he has made. Under George W. Bush, the balance of the court has swung somewhat, with the two appointments he made to the Supremes voting to restore freedom of speech, against the efforts of Obama's only appointee and her cohorts to keep restricting it.
Yes, this also means that unions can pay for more ads than they used to. We'll never have a perfect society until we have perfect people (which would mean, no more unions among other things). But the more freedom we have, the more society will tend to the good side overall... even with bumps in the road like unions trying to vote themselves more money and power thru campaign ads. C'est la vie.
But this is an overall step toward restoring the freedom so many leftists tried to deny. Recall that the latest attempt at so-called Campaign Finance "Reforrm" (aka McCain-Feingold law) came as a result of Democrats massively violating the laws that existed at the time, soliciting and receiving money from foreign sources, using supposedly "soft" money for ads directly boosting their candidate (Bill Clinton), and doing it so much that even Republicans started doing it in the last few weeks of the 1996 campaign. Congress's response to this massive lawbreaking, was to make more laws rather than massively punishing the people who broke the laws already on the books... which would have been humorous if it weren't so sad.
Now some of those misplaced laws have been rolled back.
Thank you, George W. Bush. You did some things wrong (including signing Campaign Finance Reform in the first place) and some things right. Your judicial appointments, especially to the Supreme Court, were one of the things you did right. And this striking down of unconstitutional laws restricting freedom of political speech, is a direct result.
by Mark Sherman, Associated Press Writer – 32 mins ago
Jan. 21, 2010
WASHINGTON – By a 5-4 vote, the court on Thursday overturned a 20-year-old ruling that said corporations can be prohibited from using money from their general treasuries to pay for their own campaign ads. The decision, which almost certainly will also allow labor unions to participate more freely in campaigns, threatens similar limits imposed by 24 states.
It leaves in place a prohibition on direct contributions to candidates from corporations and unions.
Justice John Paul Stevens—part of the majority in the two opinions that were overruled—led the court's four liberals in a dissent that stretched to 90 pages.
He called the majority opinion "a rejection of the common sense of the American people, who have…fought against the distinctive corrupting potential of corporate electioneering since the days of Theodore Roosevelt." Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer and Sonia Sotomayor joined the dissent.
The case before the court, Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, originated in a 2008 feature-length movie critical of then-presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. Citizens United, a conservative advocacy group, wanted to promote the film, but the election commission called it an "electioneering communication" subject to McCain-Feingold restrictions.
While nonprofits can be exempt from campaign-finance regulations if they limit their fund-raising to donations from individuals, Citizens United fell under McCain-Feingold because it accepted business contributions. Many nonprofit advocacy groups that have corporate form are also affected by Thursday's ruling, as well as labor unions and for-profit corporations.
A lawyer for Citizens United, Theodore Olson, said, "The vast majority of corporations are either nonprofit advocacy groups--like Citizens United--or small businesses." The ruling, he said, "enables individuals of limited means to band together to counterbalance the political speech of the super-rich."
When we equate '$$$' with 'free speech' it means some people have much more free speech than others = bullsh*t.
So, can we stay on the topic of bashing the Supreme Court for this ridiculous decision please?
Bash the Court for ruling in favor of free speech? Bash the Court for affirming our 1st Amendment rights? I say "BRAVO!" to the Court!
In case you're interested enough to read the Court's decision, here it is:
People are bashing various things, and one of them is that money is equated to free speech in the first place.
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