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Montana Supreme Court restores 100-year-old state ban on corporate political money
Key Excerpts from Article on Website of Washington Post/Associated Press
Posted: January 10th, 2012
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/montana-supreme-court...
The Montana Supreme Court restored the states century-old ban on direct spending by corporations on political candidates or committees in a ruling ... that interest groups say bucks a high-profile U.S. Supreme Court decision granting political speech rights to corporations. The corporation that brought the case, and is also fighting accusations that it illegally gathers anonymous donations to fuel political attacks, said the state Supreme Court got it wrong. The lawsuit was prompted by the U.S. Supreme Court Citizens United decision from last year granting political speech rights to corporations. A lower court then ruled the state ban was unconstitutional in the wake of the high courts decision. But the Montana Supreme Court on Friday reversed the lower state courts analysis and application of the Citizen United case. The Montana Supreme Court said Montana has a compelling interest to uphold its rationally tailored campaign finance laws that include a combination of restrictions and disclosure requirements. A group seeking to undo the Citizen United decision lauded the Montana high court, with its co-founder saying it was a huge victory for democracy. With this ruling, the Montana Supreme Court now sets up the first test case for the U.S. Supreme Court to revisit its Citizens United decision, a decision which poses a direct and serious threat to our democracy, John Bonifaz, of Free Speech For People, said in a statement.
Note: For revealing reports from major media sources on corporate influence on the electoral process, click here.
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