Court Opinion

ID: 9500760
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 18:31:09.923834+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:00:06.307026
License: Public Domain

Per Curiam.
A Montana state law provides that a “corporation may not make ... an expenditure in connection with a candidate or a political committee that supports or opposes a candidate or a political party.” Mont. Code Ann. § 13-35-227(1) (2011). The Montana Supreme Court rejected petitioners’ claim that this statute violates the First Amendment. 2011 MT 328, 363 Mont. 220, 271 P. 3d 1. In Citizens United v. Federal Election Comm’n, 558 U. S. 310 (2010), this Court struck down a similar federal law, holding that “political speech does not lose First Amendment protection simply because its source is a corporation.” Id., at 342 (internal quotation marks omitted). The question presented in this case is whether the holding of Citizens United applies to the Montana state law. There can be no serious doubt that it does. See U. S. Const., Art. VI, cl. 2. Montana’s arguments in *517support of the judgment below either were already rejected in Citizens United, or fail to meaningfully distinguish that case. The petition for certiorari is granted. The judgment of the Supreme Court of Montana is reversed.

It is so ordered.