CWA: Supreme Court Misses Opportunity to Address Corrupting Influence of Corporate Money in Politics

Washington, D.C. -- Today’s 5-4 decision by the U.S. Supreme Court rejecting the right of the state of Montana to restrict the unlimited spending by corporations and other groups in political campaigns will only continue and extend the corrupting influence of corporate money in politics.

It’s yet another example of the court showing its ideological bias over clear constitutional thinking. (American Tradition Partnership v. Bullock).

The government of Montana, citing a 1912 statute, attempted to restore true democracy to election and political spending by restricting spending by corporations and other organizations that has spiraled out of control in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s “Citizens United” decision in 2010.

Many had hoped the Supreme Court would see the Montana case as an opportunity to revisit and perhaps sensibly revise the Citizens United decision that has allowed hundreds of millions of dollars, from secret donors, to influence public elections. Unfortunately, the Court’s five justices who brought us Citizens United haven’t changed their thinking.

CWA agrees with Justices Ginsburg and Breyer who earlier this year said, the Citizens United decision makes "it exceedingly difficult to maintain that independent expenditures by corporations 'do not give rise to corruption or the appearance of corruption.”

We will continue to press for constitutional changes and other changes such as public financing of elections that will restore true democracy to our political and election spending.

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Contact: Candice Johnson or Liz Schilling, CWA Communications, 202-434-1168, cjohnson@cwa-union.org and eschilling@cwa-union.org