f A series of cases protects individuals from legally compelled payment of union dues to support political speech. [134], The New York Times reported that 24 states with laws prohibiting or limiting independent expenditures by unions and corporations would have to change their campaign finance laws because of the ruling. Furthermore, the court held that the additional reporting requirements that the Commission would impose on SpeechNow if it were organized as a political committee are minimal, "given the relative simplicity with which SpeechNow intends to operate." How Does the Citizens United Decision Still Affect Us in 2022? Foster Friess, a Wyoming financier, donated almost two million dollars to Rick Santorum's super PAC. Employees Local, Board of Comm'rs, Wabaunsee Cty. The other justices in the majority agreed with Kennedy's reasoning, and convinced Roberts to reassign the writing and allow Kennedy's concurrence to become the majority opinion. "The government can still use taxpayer funds to subsidize political campaigns, but it can only do that in a manner that provides an alternative to private financing" said William R. Maurer, a lawyer with Institute for Justice, which represented several challengers of the law. [168], Studies have shown that the Citizens United ruling gave Republicans an advantage in subsequent elections. 12 Ways 'Citizens United' Changed Politics | BillMoyers.com In a majority opinion joined by four other justices, Associate Justice Anthony Kennedy held that the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act's prohibition of all independent expenditures by corporations and unions violated the First Amendment's protection of free speech. 13 Years of Impact: The Long Reach of 'Citizens United' Stevens cited recent data indicating that 80% of the public view corporate independent expenditures as a method used to gain unfair legislative access. During the 2016 election cycle, the top 20 individual donors (whose contributions were disclosed) gave more than $500 million combined to political organizations. By early 2008, it sought to run three television advertisements to promote its political documentary Hillary: The Movie and to air the movie on DirecTV. In other words, super PACs are not bound by spending limits on what they can collect or spend. [94][95], When asked about the April 2014 ruling, former President Jimmy Carter called the United States "an oligarchy with unlimited political bribery" in an interview with Thom Hartmann. Specifically, a system thatmatches small-dollar donationswith public funds would expand the role of small donors and help candidates rely less on big checks and special interests. On February 14, 2008, SpeechNow and several individual plaintiffs filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia challenging the constitutionality of the Federal Election Campaign Act provisions governing political committee registration, contribution limits and disclosure. School Dist. Circuit, sitting en banc, held 90 that in light of Citizens United, such restrictions on the sources and size of contributions could not apply to an organization that made only independent expenditures in support of or opposition to a candidate but not contributions to a candidate's campaign.