The next to last barrier to a corporate takeover has been destroyed by the Supreme Court. A small restraint is maintained. For now, anyway.
By a 5-4 vote, the court on Thursday overturned a 20-year-old ruling that said corporations can be prohibited from using money from their general treasuries to pay for their own campaign ads. The decision, which almost certainly will also allow labor unions to participate more freely in campaigns, threatens similar limits imposed by 24 states.
It leaves in place a prohibition on direct contributions to candidates from corporations and unions.
Justice Stevens was in the minority, issuing a wonderfully naive dissent.
"The court's ruling threatens to undermine the integrity of elected institutions around the nation."
The ruling is seen as having a deeper, more lasting impact on upcoming elections than, say, the Massachusetts vote this week.
The justices also struck down part of the landmark McCain-Feingold campaign finance bill that barred union- and corporate-paid issue ads in the closing days of election campaigns.
Advocates of strong campaign finance regulations have predicted that a court ruling against the limits would lead to a flood of corporate and union money in federal campaigns as early as this year's midterm congressional elections.
Does the timing of the release of this decision strike anyone else as purely political?
