American Tradition Partnership, Inc. v. Bullock
American Tradition Partnership, Inc. v. Bullock | |
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Case history | |
Prior | Western Tradition Partnership, Inc. v. Attorney General, 2011 MT 328 |
Court membership | |
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Case opinions | |
Per curiam | |
Dissent | Breyer, joined by Ginsburg, Sotomayor, Kagan |
Laws applied | |
U.S. Const. amend. I |
American Tradition Partnership, Inc. v. Bullock, 2011 MT 328, is a decision by the
Background
In a 1912 ballot initiative, the citizens of
Opinion of the Montana Supreme Court
In response to a potential U.S. Supreme Court challenge, the majority opinion included a great deal of historical evidence to document the "corrupting influence of campaign contributions on elections."[1] Citizens United focused primarily on the free speech limitations of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act, whereas the Montana Supreme Court focused on the historical precedent for allowing campaign finance restrictions.[13] In particular, the Montana Supreme Court called the Supreme Court's declaration that corporations have the same constitutional rights as individual citizens "utter nonsense".
The use of abundant historical precedent allowed the majority to argue that their ruling is consistent with the original intent of the First Amendment.
Additionally, the Montana Supreme Court called Citizens United a "crabbed view of corruption" and argued that prior to Montana's campaign finance laws "the state of Montana and its government were operating under a mere shell of legal authority."[1] The majority criticized Citizens United as being unrealistic about the corrupting influence of unlimited secret money, and the court cited a litany of evidence to prove the direct correlation between independent expenditures and political corruption.[13]
The Montana Supreme Court believed that this ruling does not blatantly contradict Citizens United because the ruling deals with a law that has major differences from the
Dissent
James Nelson, who was one of the two dissenters, agreed with the majority opinion and called the reasoning of Citizens United "smoke and mirrors", but he did not believe that the Montana Supreme Court had the authority to contradict the Supreme Court. According to Nelson, when the highest court makes a constitutional ruling, all other courts must follow it.[1]
U.S. Supreme Court per curiam reversal and implication
American Tradition Partnership appealed the Montana Supreme Court decision after the court issued its decision.[14] "If Montana is allowed to flout this court's holdings in Citizens United in such a willful and transparent fashion, respect for the Constitution, the rule of law and this court will be eroded", James Bopp, American Tradition Partnership lawyer, argued.[15] In February 2012, the U.S. Supreme Court stayed the decision pending further review by the high court.[15] Justices Ginsburg and Breyer released a short statement, urging the court to revisit Citizens United and "to consider whether, in light of the huge sums of money currently deployed to buy candidate's allegiance, Citizens United should continue to hold sway." The justices asked the court to pay attention to the empirical evidence of corruption caused by the new unlimited spending, a problem that the majority downplayed in their opinion.[16]
The U.S. Supreme Court reversed the Montana Supreme Court without hearing
The court had not summarily reversed any lower court with four strongly dissenting justices with so little analysis since 1968.[18] With its ruling the Supreme Court upheld its Citizens United landmark decision.[19] While the Citizens United decision initially appeared to apply equally to state contests,[20] the Supreme Court ruled in American Tradition Partnership, Inc. v. Bullock that the Citizens United holding does so by applying it to Montana state law.[4] Because the Citizens United decision supersedes state law,[21] the states cannot bar corporate and union political contributions in their own elections.[19]
See also
References
- ^ a b c d Western Tradition Partnership vs. Montana, 2011 MT 328 (MT 2011).
- ^ a b Supreme Court of the United States (June 25, 2012). "American Tradition Partnership, Inc. v. Bullock, 567 U.S. 516 (2012) (per curiam), slip op. at 1" (PDF). supremecourt.gov.
- ^ Garrett Epps; RealClearPolitics (June 25, 2012). "Court to Super PACs: Full Speed Ahead". realclearpolitics.com.
- ^ a b Liptak, Adam (June 25, 2012). "Court Declines to Revisit Its Citizens United Decision". The New York Times. Retrieved June 26, 2012.
- ^ Alex Altman (June 19, 2012). "Will the Supreme Court Consider a Campaign-Finance Mulligan?". Time.
- ^ Warren Richey; The Christian Science Monitor (June 25, 2012). "Supreme Court strikes down Montana law, reaffirming Citizens United". The Christian Science Monitor.
- ^ Sacks, Mike (January 4, 2012). "'Citizens United' Backlash: Montana Supreme Court Upholds State's Corporate Campaign Spending Ban". Huffington Post. Retrieved January 11, 2012.
- ^ Illinois Institute of Technology Chicago-Kent College of Law (November 21, 2013). "American Tradition Partnership, Inc. v. Bullock". oyez.org.
- ^ a b Andy Malby (October 19, 2010). "Court tosses ban on corporate donations". The Belgrade News. Retrieved July 6, 2012.
- ^ Banks, Marnee (December 27, 2010). "Montana Politics 2010: Corporate Spending Ruling". krtv.com. Retrieved July 6, 2012.
- ^ Johnson, Charles S. (October 18, 2010). "Judge overturns Montana's 1912 ban on corporate campaign contributions". Ravalli Republic State Bureau. Retrieved July 6, 2012.
- ^ Johnson, Charles S. (May 20, 2012). "State urges U.S. Supreme Court to let 1912 Corrupt Practices Act stand". Billings Gazette. Billings Gazette. Retrieved March 1, 2018.
- ^ a b Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, 558 U.S. 08-205 (2010)
- ^ Damon W. Root (May 23, 2012). "Montana's Misguided Attempt to Nullify Citizens United". Reason. Retrieved July 6, 2012.
- ^ a b Stohr, Greg (February 23, 2012). "Montana Corporate Election Spending Ban Halted by High Court". Businessweek. Archived from the original on February 18, 2012. Retrieved June 28, 2012.
- ^ Goldstein, Tom (February 18, 2012). "The Supreme Court, Citizens United II, and the November election". SCOTUSblog. Retrieved June 28, 2012.
- ^ Bravin, Jess (June 25, 2012). "Supreme Court Rejects Corporate Campaign Spending Limits". Wall Street Journal.
- Wolf PAC. Archived from the originalon March 7, 2018. Retrieved August 5, 2019.
- ^ a b Alex Roarty (June 25, 2012). "Supreme Court Again Smacks Down Campaign-Finance Reformers". The Atlantic. Retrieved June 26, 2012.
- ^ Sherman, Mark (June 26, 2012). "State corporate campaign spending limits rejected". The Associated Press. Atlantic News. Retrieved July 6, 2012.
- ^ Josh Levs and Bill Mears (June 26, 2012). "Supreme Court refuses to reconsider campaign finance controversy". CNN News. Retrieved June 26, 2012.