In a decision that shows the extended impact of the Supreme
Court's Citizens United ruling, the U.S. Court of Appeals for
the District of Columbia struck down limits on contributions to
political groups that spend money to support or oppose candidates.
The court found that the $5,000 annual limit on contributions to such groups is unconstitutional, writing that the Citizens United ruling "resolves this appeal," in favor of SpeechNow.org, a group that seems to have been started with the specific purpose of challenging campaign-finance regulations.
SCOTUSblog concludes that this ruling "significantly broadens the impact of Citizens United, extending its constitutional reasoning from campaign spending to campaign donations."
Unless something is done quickly - like amending the Constitution to say that corporations aren't persons and don't get Bill of Rights protections - we can expect to see more and more of our elected officials having to bow to the wishes of the world's largest corporations or get creamed by multi-million dollar corporate financed ad campaigns.
The court found that the $5,000 annual limit on contributions to such groups is unconstitutional, writing that the Citizens United ruling "resolves this appeal," in favor of SpeechNow.org, a group that seems to have been started with the specific purpose of challenging campaign-finance regulations.
SCOTUSblog concludes that this ruling "significantly broadens the impact of Citizens United, extending its constitutional reasoning from campaign spending to campaign donations."
Unless something is done quickly - like amending the Constitution to say that corporations aren't persons and don't get Bill of Rights protections - we can expect to see more and more of our elected officials having to bow to the wishes of the world's largest corporations or get creamed by multi-million dollar corporate financed ad campaigns.
