Supreme court refuses to revisit Citizens United for Montanta law
“In a single dismissive paragraph on Monday, the court’s conservative majority refused to allow Montana or any other state to impose limits on corporate election spending and wouldn’t even entertain arguments on the subject. The court’s five conservative justices struck down a Montana law that prohibited corporate spending in elections — a law passed in 1912 not out of some theoretical concern about money corrupting elections but to put an end to actual influence-buying by copper barons. State officials told the court that fighting corruption required them to maintain limits on corporate election spending. A series of friend-of-the-court briefs urged the justices to allow other states to impose similar laws, citing the out-of-control spending unleashed since 2010. Those pleas were summarily rejected by the court’s majority, which refused to hear arguments on the issue. “There can be no serious doubt” that Citizens United applies to Montana, the court said."
Source: The New York Times Opinion Pages, “And refuse to revisit the Citizens United disaster,” New York Times, June 25, 2012, http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/26/opinion/the-court-citizens-united.html... [verified 4/22/14]