An account of the history of Citizens United

http://verdict.justia.com/2012/05/25/the-citizens-united-case-and-jeffrey-toobins-account-of-it-in-the-new-yorker?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-citizens-united-case-and-jeffrey-toobins-account-of-it-in-the-new-yorker


Supreme Court of the United States

CITIZENS UNITED, Appellant,
v.
FEDERAL ELECTION COMMISSION.

No. 08–205.Argued March 24, 2009.
Reargued Sept. 9, 2009.
Decided Jan. 21, 2010.

Background: Nonprofit corporation brought action against Federal Election Commission (FEC) for declaratory and injunctive relief, asserting that it feared it could be subject to civil and criminal penalties if it made through video-on-demand, within 30 days of primary elections, a film regarding a candidate seeking nomination as a political party's candidate in the next Presidential election. The United States District Court for the District of Columbia, A. Raymond Randolph, Circuit Judge, andRoyce C. Lamberth and Richard W. Roberts, District Judges, 2008 WL 2788753,denied corporation's motion for preliminary injunction and granted summary judgment to Commission. Probable jurisdiction was noted.

Holdings: The Supreme Court, Justice Kennedy, held that:

(1) government may not, under the First Amendment, suppress political speech on the basis of the speaker's corporate identity, overruling Austin v. Michigan Chamber of Commerce, 494 U.S. 652, 110 S.Ct. 1391, 108 L.Ed.2d 652;

(2) federal statute barring independent corporate expenditures for electioneering communications violated First Amendment, overruling McConnell v. Federal Election Com'n, 540 U.S. 93, 124 S.Ct. 619, 157 L.Ed.2d 491;

(3) disclaimer and disclosure provisions of Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 did not violate First Amendment, as applied to nonprofit corporation's film and three advertisements for the film.

Affirmed in part, reversed in part, and remanded.