On June 28, the 4th circuit ruled in USA v Danielczyk that federal laws that prohibit contributions to federal candidates are still constitutional. Here is the 12-page decision. As is well known, in 2010, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Citizens United v FEC that corporations cannot be prevented from spending money to spread their own message about federal candidates and whether voters should support them or not.

The 4th circuit said there are substantial differences between independent spending and campaign contributions. “Direct contributions do not necessarily fund political speech”, the decision says. More importantly, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled in the past has upheld laws that ban corporate contributions to federal candidates. The most recent such decision, FEC v Beaumont, was issued in 2003.

It is likely that the Danielczyk case will be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.