The Citizens United Case

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ESSAY QUESTION: The Supreme Court last year decided the Citizens United case, which deals with the right of corporations to contribute to political campaigns. For a possible additional 25 points, research the case and summarize the positions of the majority and dissenting opinions and the reasons therefor. Explain which position you find the most convincing and why. Email your answer as a word document attached to your email. Answer must be received by Wednesday midnight to be considered for additional credit. This is an optional assignment. SOURCES USED: http://www.fec.gov/law/litigation/cu_sc08_opinion.pdf http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/22/us/politics/22scotus.html?_r=1&pagewanted=2 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/20/AR2011012005149.html…show more content…
This documentary was critical of Hillary Clinton who was running in the Democratic Primary at the time. The documentary was scheduled to air within 30 days of the election. Citizens United wanted to avoid violating BCRA and went to court claiming that BCRA’s prohibition as it applied to their documentary was unconstitutional because it violated the First Amendment’s decree of free speech. They also claimed that the BCRA’s rules of disclosure, disclaimer and reporting requirements were also…show more content…
They went further and overruled the Austin case which had said that the BCRA ban did NOT violate the First and Fourteenth Amendments, and also overruled in part McConnell which had extended the BCRA’s expenditure prohibitions. However, they upheld the BCRA’s requirement of disclosing who was funding a political opinion piece such as the Hillary: The Movie documentary. The Court’s opinion was, essentially, that a corporation is entitled to the same free speech rights in the First Amendment as an individual, the media and even political parties. In his concurring opinion, Justice Scalia writes about the original meaning of the First Amendment: “The Amendment is written in terms of “speech,” not speakers. Its text offers no foothold for excluding any category of speaker, from single individuals to partnerships of individuals, to unincorporated associations of individuals, to incorporated associations of

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