SCOTUS Ends Ban On Corporate Political Ad Campaigns For POTUS And Congress

The Supreme Court has lifted the ban on corporations making political ads in support of presidential or congressional candidates.

By a 5-4 vote, the court overturned a 20-year-old ruling that said companies can be prohibited from using money from their general treasuries to produce and run 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. Critics of the stricter limits have argued that they amount to an unconstitutional restraint of free speech, and the court majority agreed.

As one would expect, Ginsberg, Breyer, Sotomayor, and Stevens were the dissenting votes.