Supreme Court - corporations can now buy candidates

i read this a little while ago....what a crock of shit! talk about going backwards

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.c ... ?ref=fpblg

Supreme Court Strikes Down Key Campaign-Finance Provision
Zachary Roth | January 21, 2010, 10:10AM

In a ruling that has major implications for how elections are funded, the Supreme Court has struck down a key campaign-finance restriction that bars corporations and unions from pouring money into political ads.

The long-awaited 5-4 ruling, in the Citizens United v. FEC case, presents advocates of regulation with a major challenge in limiting the flow of corporate money into campaigns, and potentially opens the door for unrestricted amounts of corporate money to flow into American politics.

In the case at issue, Citizens United (CU), a conservative advocacy group, was challenging a ruling by the FEC that barred it from airing a negative movie about Hillary Clinton. CU received corporate donations and the movie advocated the defeat of a political candidate within 60 days of an election. CU argued that the FEC ruling violated its freedom of speech, and that the relevant provision of McCain-Feingold was unconstitutional.

The court overruled a 1990 decision that found that government can stop corporations from spending money on ads that urge the election or defeat of a candidate. It's rare for the Supreme Court to overturn a precedent arrived at so recently.

The five conservative judges -- Alito, Roberts, Scalia, Kennedy, and Thomas, ruled for Citizens United. The four liberal judges -- Stevens, Breyer, Ginsburg, and Sotomayor, made up the minority.

Tom Goldstein of SCOTUSblog calls the decision "a small revolution in campaign finance law."

At the heart of the ruling, now available here (pdf), is a judgment by the Court that the law cannot distinguish between corporations and individuals in prohibiting speech - so free speech rights that apply to the latter must also apply to the former. Kennedy writes for the majority:

Distinguishing wealthy individuals from corporations based on the latter's special advantages of e.g., limited liability, does not suffice to allow laws prohibiting speech. It is irrelevant for First Amendment purposes that corporate funds may "have little or no correlation to the public's support for the corporation's political ideas." Austin, supra, at 660. All speakers, including individuals and the media, use money amassed from the economic marketplace to fund their speech, and the First Amendment protects the resulting speech.

Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI) warned last week that if the court found unconstitutional all efforts to ban corporations and unions from financing political ads, it would take the country "not just back to a pre-McCain-Feingold era, but back to the era of the robber barons in the 19th century."

We'll have more information on the court's decision, and its potential ramifications, shortly...

Late Update: In a particularly hard-hitting quote, the good-government group Public Citizen declares:

Money from Exxon, Goldman Sachs, Pfizer and the rest of the Fortune 500
is already corroding the policy making process in Washington, state capitals and city halls. Today, the Supreme Court tells these corporate giants that they have a constitutional right to trample our democracy.

The thread title is misleading because unions like the SEIU can do the same exact thing.

Nothing new here, CORPORATIONS are the entity that really runs this country.

Peace

g under p wrote:

Nothing new here, CORPORATIONS are the entity that really runs this country.

Peace

right.

Corporations have already been given the rights of immortal persons.

a wise man told us that years ago. i guess some of you never listened.

norm wrote:

g under p wrote:

Nothing new here, CORPORATIONS are the entity that really runs this country.

Peace

But we didn't need the supreme court's approval of it


We are truly fucked

That is true but if you thought an outlandish amount of money was given in the last Presidential election just wait till the next one. It'll be a race to see who or which side will give the most money. Then whomever wins will have to play follow the leader to those corporate influences.

We WILL be truly fucked.

Peace

how can anybody beleive that business entities such as corporations deserve the same freedom of speech as a person? it does not make any sense. corporations should not be able to match or exceed every dollar donated by every citizen to help a candidate get elected. if they are allowed to do that then what the hell is the point of a private citizen donating money in the first place? what would have happened if for example a candidate raised $40 million in private donations and then a corporation donates not only $40 million to the opponent, but an additional $40 million on top of that?? that candidate is already bought and sold and beholden to that corporation's interests because that corporation got him elected and now OWNS that politician..if that politician does not act the way the corporation wants, then that is $80 million dollars they will lose when they run for re-election.

this is another example of why the american people are fucked, and how once again the 5 "conservative" justices on the court, the same 5 that vote the same way every fucking time are in favor of big business and could care less about the people.

something has to be done, either ammend the constitution, or even better, add and appoint 2 more justices to the supreme court. the adding of justices has happened in the past, and that is one way that the president and congress can say "we are not going to put up with this bullshit any longer!!"

What the United States Supreme Court of America did was to create the NEW THIRD PARTY of GOVERNMENT which allow both foreign and domestic corporations to openingly pimp potential candidates. No more Jack Abramoff prosecutions. No more Watergate scandals. Our Supreme Court just made all these former criminal activities legal. The biggest WTF is that political campaign contributions are tax deductible. These corporations will walk away with millions in tax-free income.

Brown is the first. Republicans think he is their man, he's not. He was brought in by the Insurance industry to make sure that any health care bill was either favorable to them or killed. Don't be alarmed, the corporations don't want to change the Democrat/Republican two party system, when they now have the power to openingly and legally manipulate the outcome of any legislative bill. You think our representatives and senators were PAC whores before, they've now just been reduced to crack whores selling their legislative votes for scrap to the highest bidding corporation.

Once again unions like the SEIU that heavily backed Obama have the same rules. It isn't just the GOP that stands to gain.

JB811 wrote:

Once again unions like the SEIU that heavily backed Obama have the same rules. It isn't just the GOP that stands to gain.

Your missing the overall impact of this decision. Let's take the SEIU as an example. How powerful do you think this organization is now that corporations like Walmart, Target, Cargill, JBT, Tyson, Hilton, Marriot can openingly support hand picked candidates to do their legislative bidding?

What difference does SEIU votes make if corporations can openingly bank roll candidates for their support to start or stop any legislative bill? These corporations now have the ability to manipulate or break these unions, including the all powerful police unions, through legislative bills, even at the local levels where it is most vulnerable. These unions can't compete with energy, pharmaceutical, banking, and insurance mega corporations bankrolling a candidate.

This decision isn't about whether there is a Democrat or Republican president, its about who they put in Congress. Who they seat on a Judge's bench. Who they put on city councils. They now have free rein to manipulate the people who you elect to supposedly pass laws to make your life better. That concept was just flushed by this Supreme Court decision.

This is not a Republican or Democrat victory, it is a defeat for the American public who somehow continue to hope that their voice is heard when they actually elect a candidate to office.

This is the issue of our time and a revolution of political mindset is in order. We the people need to only support candidates that do not accept large corporate financing.