Daniel H. Lowenstein is the Director of the Center for the Liberal Arts and Free Institutions at the UCLA Law School. He writes to comment on today’s Supreme Court decision:
For those of us who follow campaign finance regulation carefully, today’s Citizens United decision is indeed important. The Austin case, which is now overruled, had allowed prohibition of “independent” campaign spending by corporations. Such spending (and also such spending by labor unions) will now be constitutionally protected.
In addition, Austin had relied on an odd definition of “corruption.” Corruption in that case included the “corrosive” effect of money being used to influence elections that had not been raised for political reasons. In other words, when I pay money to Safeway I do it because I want some food, not because of Safeway’s political views. If Safeway then uses that money to support a candidate, there is a corrosive and thus corrupt effect.
This was important, because the Court has said that only the avoidance of corruption justifies restrictions of campaign expenditures and contributions. Citizens United now limits “corruption” to the improper influencing of candidates and public officials.
So that’s significant, but it is by no means revolutionary. Nor is it ground for celebration by Power Line readers who believe campaign finance should be unregulated. Austin has always been an anomalous decision within the Court’s campaign finance doctrine. The Court’s doing away with that anomaly creates no reason to expect it to reshape the remainder of the doctrine.
The prohibition of corporate contributions (and of “coordinated” corporate campaign expenditures, which are treated as in-kind contributions) is unlikely to be affected by Citizens United. Even less likely to be affected are the many restrictions on individuals.
Professor Lowenstein thus draws attention to the narrowness of the Court’s decision in Citizens United. Professor Lowenstein’s cautionary note — cautionary because the whole edifice of campaign finance reform beyond required disclosure should be taken down — joins the plethora of good commentary regarding Citizens United that is available today on the Web.
