Twenty-two states, including Kentucky, and the District of Columbia are backing Montana in its fight to prevent the U.S. Supreme Court's 2010 Citizens United decision from being used to strike down state laws restricting corporate campaign spending. Virginia-based American Tradition Partnership is asking the nation's high court to rule without a hearing because the group says the state law conflicts directly with the Citizens United decision that removed the federal ban on corporate campaign spending. Law professor Richard L. Hasen of the University of California-Irvine says it's highly unlikely that the Court would reverse its decision. Montana Attorney General Steve Bullock argues that political corruption in the Copper King era led to the state ban on corporate campaign spending, and a clarification of Citizens United is needed to make clear that states can block certain political spending in the interest of limiting corruption.
The states who filed the brief in support of Montana are New York, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, Rhode Island, Utah, Vermont, Washington, West Virginia and the District of Columbia.
