In the News
National Review: Montana’s Citizens United Challenge Fails
By Bradley A. SmithToday’s Supreme Court summary reversal of the Montana Supreme Court’s ruling that Citizens United v. FEC somehow didn’t apply to Montana is hardly surprising.
The Hill: Supreme Court summarily reverses Montana’s Citizens United case
By Rachel LevenCenter for Competitive Politics founder Brad Smith said the decision “is correct, both empirically and as a matter of law.”
Daily Caller: June 26, 2012, Supreme Court upholds Citizens United decision
By Angelica MalikSmith said in a statement, “In the two years since Citizens United, campaigns have been more competitive and more issue-oriented, with higher voter turnout and more voices heard.”
LA Times: After winning right to spend, political groups fight for secrecy
By Joseph Tanfani and Melanie MasonBradley A. Smith, a Republican and former chairman of the Federal Election Commission, is among those whose views have changed on disclosure. In 2003, he endorsed disclosing donors as a way to discourage corruption by “exposing potential or actual conflicts of interest.”But later, he said, he concluded that disclosure requirements could be burdensome for citizen groups. And now that campaign reports are posted online, he added, people can easily identify and target their opponents.
CCP
The Supremacy Clause. It’s a Thing.
By Zac MorganToday, in two paragraphs, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a challenge by the state of Montana to blithely ignore the Court’s holding in Citizens United. For centuries, from Marbury v. Madison to this case, the Supreme Court has consistently held that its interpretation of the Constitution is supreme and final over state courts. After all, the United States Constitution is the ‘supreme Law of the land’, and “[i]t is emphatically the province and duty of the judicial department to say what the law is.” U.S. CONST., Art. VI, Sec. 2; Marbury v. Madison, 1 Cranch 137, 177 (1803).
David Keating Debates Disclosure
If we left speech laws up to the politicians, they’d probably ban editorials endorsing candidates. In the 1960s, Alabama passed a law aimed at ending “corrupt practices, ” which led to the arrest of newspaper editor James Mills for writing an editorial urging voters to approve a new form of city government. His crime? The editorial was published on Election Day, a day that electioneering on candidates or ballot questions was banned by law.
SCOTUS/Judiciary
Cato: Citizens United Lives for Another Day
By John SamplesThey refer to the Supremacy Clause: “This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding.”
National Journal: Supreme Court Campaign Finance Ruling Shows Reformers’ Weak Position
By Alex RoartyThe Supreme Court’s rejection of a long-shot legal challenge to let states bar corporate and union political contributions in their own elections underscores the legal quandary in which many left-of-center campaign finance reformers find themselves.
Bloomberg: Corporate Campaign Spending Rights Affirmed By High Court
By Greg Stohr and Julie BykowiczA divided U.S. Supreme Court threw out Montana’s ban on corporate campaign spending in a reaffirmation of the 2010 decision that unleashed super-PACs and left federal elections awash in money from big spenders.
Roll Call: Montana Ruling Could Fuel Campaign to Amend Constitution
By Eliza Newlin CarneyThe Supreme Court’s Monday ruling to strike Montana’s ban on corporate campaign spending opens a new chapter in the political money wars, fueling an improbable but increasingly vocal movement to amend the Constitution.
NY Times: Court Declines to Revisit Its Citizens United Decision
By ADAM LIPTAKIn a brief unsigned decision, the Supreme Court on Monday declined to have another look at its blockbuster 2010 campaign finance decision, Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission.
National Journal, Influence Alley: Unlimited Corporate Political Spending Gets More Unlimited
By Elahe IzadiWhat, Montana, you think you can place caps on corporate and union political donations? Well nice try, Big Sky Country, but no dice.
NPR: Supreme Court Says Montana Cannot Ignore ‘Citizens United’ Ruling
By Peter OverbyThe state of Montana has lost a closely watched bid to challenge Citizens United, the 2010 Supreme Court ruling that lets corporations deploy their money to help or attack specific candidates.
Tax financing
NY Times: With Cuomo, a New Group Will Push for Publicly Financed Elections
By THOMAS KAPLANFrustrated with Albany’s tepid reaction to the idea of publicly financed elections, the Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes and his fiancé are financing a new campaign to press the issue in coordination with Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo.
Candidates and parties
The New Republic: Dough-Faced
By Alec MacGillisIN EARLY JUNE, a small group of Barack Obama’s top fund-raisers gathered for an urgent meeting in a bar on Chicago’s Michigan Avenue. They had been summoned to town for a briefing from campaign manager Jim Messina to the several dozen moneyed men and women who make up Obama’s finance committee. But, in a classic example of Citizens United-era subterfuge, a handful of the attendees slipped away from the Renaissance Blackstone Hotel in the South Loop and headed to the bar. Over drinks, they met with Bill Burton and Paul Begala, leaders of the super PAC that is supporting Obama, Priorities USA Action, which is forbidden by law from coordinating with the campaign. Burton and Begala pleaded for help. “They said, ‘Don’t you know some billionaires you can send us to?’” says one of the finance committee members. “I tried to think of a couple.”
Baltimore Sun: Bartlett struggles with campaign disclosure
By John FritzeA review of FEC data by the Baltimore Sun found that Bartlett has received 25 letters from the agency for incomplete reports since 2009 — more than any other current member of the House of Representatives.
