Supreme Court Strikes Down Corporate Campaign Expenditures Limit

"Money makes the world go 'round"

In a special session, the U.S. Supreme Court today in a 5-to-4 First Amendment decision (Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, official opinions here) invalidated key parts of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 (BCRA or the McCain-Feingold Act) and overruled a twenty year old precedent about corporations' speech rights. I'll almost certainly have more to say after wading through the 183 pages of opinions, especially Justice Stevens's dissent joined by Justices Ginsburg, Breyer, and Sotomayor. For now, for-profit corporations and reunions are probably already planning the elections on which they plan to spend huge sums to run ads in support of candidates they favor.