Today, the Supreme Court decided the campaign finance case, which is overturning the distinction between corporate and individual contributions. Tom Goldstein and Lyle Denniston at SCOTUS blog live -tweeted the announcements of the opinions, which is fascinating to read. The full LONG opinions are here. This quote from the sylabus describing how the Kennedy majority opinion deals with waiver suggests a certain overeagerness to reach the First Amendment issue: “Citizens United did not waive this challenge to Austin when it stipulated to dismissing the facial challenge below, since (1) even if such a challenge could be waived, this Court may reconsider Austin and §441b’s facial validity here be- cause the District Court ‘passed upon’ the issue, Lebron v. National Railroad Passenger Corporation, 513 U. S. 374, 379; (2) throughout the litigation, Citizens United has asserted a claim that the FEC has violated its right to free speech; and (3) the parties cannot enter into a stipulation that prevents the Court from considering remedies necessary to resolve a claim that has been preserved.” They’ve upheld death penalties relying on waivers of far less clarity.
In any event, here’s the SCOTUS Twitter feed. Start at the bottom and read to the top:
- To clarify: Justice Thomas’ dissent is limited to the part of the decision that upholds the disclosure requirements for Citizens United less than 20 seconds ago from web
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Total pages of the Citizens United opinion: 176. Certainly the longest of the Term so far. 3 minutes ago from web
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Lyle: Justice Kennedy took 12 minutes to announce majority in Citizens United. Justice Stevens announcing dissent. 4 minutes ago from web
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Tom: The decision presumably applies equally to state and local elections, given that the Court recognizes a First Amendment right. 8 minutes ago from web
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Tom: We will link to the opinions as soon as they are available. 9 minutes ago from web
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Tom: The Court’s decision overturns the previously settled distinction between corporate and individual expenditures in American elections. 9 minutes ago from web
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Tom: Much will depend on the wording, but today’s decision is a small revolution in campaign finance law. 9 minutes ago from web
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Lyle: Citizens United comes down, Austin and McConnell precedents fall. Hillary the Movie gets First Amendment protection. 10 minutes ago from web
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The majority opinion by Justice Kennedy is 57 pages 11 minutes ago from web
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Justice Stevens’ partial dissent is 90 pages 12 minutes ago from web
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The Court does uphold the disclosure requirements for organizations like Citizens United 12 minutes ago from web
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Thomas also filed an opinion concurring in part and dissenting in part 12 minutes ago from web
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In dissent, or partial dissnet is Stevens, joined by Ginsburg, Sotomayor, and Breyer 13 minutes ago from web
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And so is part of McConnell v. FEC that upheld the restrictions on independent corporate expenditures 13 minutes ago from web
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Austin v. Michigan: has been overruled 14 minutes ago from web
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Citizens United: reversed in part, affirmed in part, and remanded 14 minutes ago from web
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Citzens United has been decided – Justice kennedy writes for the Court 15 minutes ago from web
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Adam: If anyone is having trouble loading the LiveBlog, try refreshing your screen and it should work. 17 minutes ago from web
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Lyle: Scotusblog ready to go at 10 on today’s action. http://www.scotusblog.com/ 22 minutes ago from web
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Adam: At 10am, stay tuned for real-time tweets as opinions are handed down by the Court. Visit blog for live updates as well #scotus
What a sad day. It should have read legal America applys Golden Rule. Looks like a power play. At least the buying and selling of the country’s justice systems will be out in the open, some. Let’s see. No more backroom deals leading to a crime for all that needed political cash supporting one side of all matters.[their own] Now other backroom deals will move along least these concerns and focus on other payment plans not directly connected.
Maybe a good deal for an attorney owed a favor by some corporation. Money (any amount) to run in any race. Hope its not a bad deal for Katrina victims. Until when the Judge’s robe starts looking like the side of a stock car or billboard we all won’t know who bought what, will we. Corporate America V. Americans ? What will things look like in the near furture? No doubt the corporations are already looking at a political power purchase and no doubt maybe a few free agents. Corporate Cash meet Family and Friends. Here the corporations have a chance to try and keep what it wants in politics and add to whats kept.If corporations compete who wins? If they don’t we’ll be the losers. Looking to results. Two words, Major Change and I doubt its good.