Montana Supreme Court throws down gauntlet in Citizens United decision | NJ.com

Montana Supreme Court throws down gauntlet in Citizens United decision | NJ.com: by Frank Askin - The Star Ledger "In 1912, the voters of Montana passed a referendum restricting corporations from spending money to elect candidates to office, except through closely regulated political action committees. The law was the result of well-publicized scandalous behavior by Montana corporations, especially mining companies, to take over state government.
In the aftermath of Citizens United, three corporations challenged the constitutionality of the 100-year old Montana statute.
Rather than acknowledging the precedent of Citizens United to strike down the law, the Montana justices (or at least six of the nine) either challenged or distinguished (depending on one’s perspective) the decision.
Acknowledging that Kennedy’s opinion had narrowly defined “corruption” as “dollars for political favors,” the Montana court majority (6-3) wrote: “Montana’s experience and experience elsewhere make it exceedingly difficult to maintain that independent expenditures by corporations do not give rise to corruption or the appearance of corruption.”"

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