Citizens United v FEC
The Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act brought certain limitations to what advertisements could be broadcasted at certain times. More specifically, they prevented what was known as “electioneering communications”. Citizens United was a conservative nonprofit that made a movie targeting opposing politician Hillary Clinton. They faced friction in terms of broadcasting with the FEC since the BCRA prevented such advertisements from being shown at certain times. Citizens United sued, arguing that the limitations being set went against their First Amendment Rights of free speech.
Breakdown Verdict.
A 5-4 verdict for Citizens United determined that their broadcast was justified in the name of the law. They recognized corporate entities as people, and that their First Amendment rights of free speech and press were mostly concurrent. These independent corporations were permitted to broadcast political campaigns as long as they did not intervene with the actual members of the election.
Result Going Forward.
This ruling marked the start of Super PACs, political action committees that could essentially sway the election with the power of independent money. Unlike normal PACs, Super PACs could raise a lot more money and generally support a candidate with much more strength provided they do not coordinate directly with the candidate. Many of the dissenting justices were against it because of this kind of corruption, which puts into question the importance of liberty in relation to preventing corruption.
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