Recently the Montana Supreme Court (Chief Justice Mike McGrath sketched here) ruled that the odious Citizens United ruling handed down 2 years ago by the US Supreme Court would not pass muster in Montana. Montana, it felt, had had a long tradition of understanding the toxic influence of money on democracy and had the responsibility to reassert this now, amid the specter of the biggest campaign/money orgy the world has ever seen. They state: “The Dissents assert that Citizens United holds unequivocally that no sufficient government interest justifies limits on political speech. We disagree. The [U.S.] Supreme Court held that laws that burden political speech are subject to strict scrutiny, which requires the government to prove that the law furthers a compelling state interest and is narrowly tailored to that interest.” More in Counterpunch: http://www.counterpunch.org/2012/01/27/montana-supreme-court-flouts-citizens-united/
It is possible, or likely, that this will be struck down by the US Supreme Court in time, upholding its own big mistake. But how great to see this. And a strong reminder of the constitutional amendment banning this level of campaign contribution that we need to get to work on immediately.
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/01/26/wyden-backs-amendment-to-overturn-citizens-united-ruling/
