UI law professor: Decision in Citizens United v. FEC may be open to challenges

[cyberswede]

Jan. 6, 2011 - University of Iowa News Release

UI law professor looks for middle ground in corporate campaign donation decision

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But University of Iowa law professor and First Amendment expert Randall Bezanson said the decision in Citizens United v. FEC may be open to later challenges that could restrict corporate spending in election campaigns (though unfortunately, probably not soon enough to prevent Americans from being relentlessly bombarded with still more campaign commercials, robo-calls and junk mail in 2012).

The Citizens United case was handed down in January 2010 and struck down earlier legal precedents that prevented corporations from donating money to election campaigns. In a 5-4 decision, the Court held that corporations enjoy the same First Amendment protections of freedom of speech as any individual citizen.

In a paper published in the Iowa Law Review, Bezanson acknowledges that Justice Anthony Kennedy’s opinion is “take no prisoners,” boldly attempting to make a broad and definitive statement. In it, Kennedy disposes of the previous idea that corporations could not give money to political campaigns because individual shareholders did not invest in the company with the belief that their money would be used to fund a candidate they may not support.

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Bezanson said Kennedy’s language in dismissing those notions is definite and attempts to leave no room to maneuver or find middle ground for restricting corporate campaign donations to politicians. But he said the opinion is muddled and poorly argued. Its language and reach are over broad and Kennedy makes disputable assumptions about earlier Court decisions. Plus, he was the only justice who signed on fully to his opinion -— three of the other four justices in the majority wrote concurring or separate opinions, which dilutes the strength of his arguments.

Read the rest: http://news-releases.uiowa.edu/2011/january/010611bezanson_citizens_united.html

[rurallib]

1. Would it do any good while John, Sam, Tony and Clarence

sit?