5-4 Citizens United v. FEC
Mar 3, 2020
Exploring the impact of Citizens United v. FEC on American politics, corporate influence in campaign finance, evolution of First Amendment jurisprudence, critique of corporate personhood, and analysis of election spending fallout.
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Corporations Granted Broad Speech Rights
- Citizens United reframed corporate spending as protected political speech, expanding First Amendment protections to corporations.
- The ruling converted a narrow dispute about a documentary into a broad constitutional change favoring corporate political influence.
From Political Ads To A Movie Lawsuit
- Citizens United began as Americans for Bush and evolved from political ads to making partisan films like Hillary: The Movie.
- The FEC treated them as a political organization, leading Citizens United to litigate and eventually reach the Supreme Court.
Court Shifted Case To Change The Law
- Conservatives on the Court expanded the case scope at re-argument to address corporate spending broadly rather than the narrow film dispute.
- Stevens' dissent called out this procedural shift as an opportunistic move to change the law.