[EL] MT Sup. Court on Corp. Expenditures

[James J. Sample]

Rick asked that I send this development to the list.  

Today, the Montana Supreme Court, relying in large part on the state's history of having been at one time, more or less, one very large company town under Anaconda Mining, upheld the state's ban on direct corporate general treasury expenditures for or against political candidates.  The decision, written by Chief Justice Mike McGrath, was 5-2 to uphold the law on grounds of compelling state interests.  The dissenters would have overturned the law on Citizens United grounds and predict that SCOTUS will do just that.  List member Anthony Johnstone, now of the University of Montana and previously the Montana state solicitor, was instrumental in defending the law.  

News article:  http://helenair.com/news/state-and-regional/supreme-court-upholds-state-ban-on-corporation-candidate-spending/article_ba9c41ea-332a-11e1-b7f1-001871e3ce6c.html

Full opinion: http://applicationengine.mt.gov/getContent?vsId={1C0B7886-01C0-49E3-A71A-C06CA7E71040}&impersonate=true&objectStoreName=PROD%20OBJECT%20STORE&objectType=document

Best,
James


James Sample  l  Associate Professor  l  Hofstra Law School
121 Hofstra University, Suite 29J l  516-463-7236  l  james.sample at hofstra.edu