Unlimited corporate $$$ on U.S. Elections: Supreme Court gives corporations First Amendment rights

O n Thursday January 21st, 2010, the United States Supreme Court voted 5-4 in favor of overturning two, sixty-year old restrictions on corporations, unions and other interest groups that restricted them from spending their treasuries on United States public elections. In other words, corporations now have First Amendment rights just like you and are now allowed to spend as much money on candidates and elections as they wish without government intervention.
Corporations such as Exxon Mobile and AIG will now be able to spend as much money on attack ads, unlawfully shaping public perception concerning issues and candidates. The ruling, Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, No. 08-205 has sparked major controversy. In a statement, President Obama called the ruling “a major victory for big oil, Wall Street banks, health insurance companies and the other powerful interests that marshal their power every day in Washington to drown out the voices of everyday Americans.”
The majority in the Supreme Court ruling, which included the four members of the courts conservative wing, said that the historic ruling verifies the First Amendment rights of corporations and declares that the government has no right to regulate political speech. Justice Anthony M. Kennedy of the majority said, “If the First Amendment has any force, it prohibits Congress from fining or jailing citizens, or associations of citizens, for simply engaging in political speech.”
The Supreme Court minority in the ruling, which included the four members of the courts liberal wing including Sonia Sotomayor, argued that allowing corporations to influence public elections by backing particular candidates and issues would corrupt the very foundation of our countries democracy. Justice John Paul Stevens of the minority said that the majority had committed a grave error in treating corporate speech the same as that of human beings.
In response, Robert Weissman of the watchdog group Public Citizen said, “What we really need is to get the decision undone. If the court won’t reverse its own decision, the only course available to us is a constitutional amendment. We have to say the First Amendment exists to protect the rights of real people, of you and me, not artificial creations known as corporations, not for Exxon, not for Pfizer, not for Goldman Sachs.”
In response to the ruling, Representative Chris Van Hollen (MD) and Senator Charles Schumer (NY), and the White House are working to pass legislation to reverse the Supreme Courts ruling.