Multiple Choice Questions

Does a law that limits the ability of corporations and labor unions to spend their own money to advocate the election or defeat of a candidate violate the First Amendment's guarantee of free speech?
  • Background
  • Dissent Opinion
  • Issue
  • Arguments for the Federal Election
First Amendment protects people, not corporations. The dissenters felt that the government should be allowed to ban corporate money because it could overwhelm the debate and drown out non-corporate voices. They noted that Congress had imposed special rules on corporate campaign spending for more than 100 years.
  • Dissent Opinion
  • Issue
  • Background
  • Majority Opinion
The Court ruled, 5-4, that the First Amendment prohibits limits on corporate funding of independent broadcasts in candidate elections. The justices said that the government's rationale for the limits on corporate spending—to prevent corruption—was not persuasive enough to restrict political speech. A desire to prevent corruption can justify limits on donations to candidates, but not on independent expenditures (spending that is not coordinated with a candidate's campaign) to support or oppose candidates for elected office. Moreover, the Court said, corporations have free speech rights and their political speech cannot be restricted any more than that of individuals.
  • Dissent Opinion
  • Majority Opinion
  • Law and Supreme Court Precedents
  • Decision
Freedom of political speech is vital to our democracy and spending money on political advertisements is one way of spreading speech. The First Amendment applies equally to speech by individuals and speech by groups. Companies, unions, and other organizations should not face stricter rules about their speech than individuals do. Newspapers are corporations. Through editorials, news organizations and media companies try to influence elections. If Congress is allowed to ban corporations from placing political ads, what prevents them from regulating the media as well? Though some people or organizations have more money and can therefore speak more, the First Amendment does not allow for making some forms of speech illegal in order to make things "fair."
  • Facts of the case
  • Background
  • Arguments for Citizens United
  • Arguments for the Federal Election
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Multiple Choice Questions
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