As noted earlier, on September 4, 2013, U.S. District Court Judge M. Christina Armijo struck down Albuquerque’s ban on corporation campaign contributions in city elections. The case was Giant Cab Company v Bailey, 13-cv-426. The outcome was surprising, because the U.S. Supreme Court has consistently upheld laws that ban corporation campaign contributions. Citizens United v FEC did not involve campaign contributions; instead it involved independent expenditures by corporations. But Judge Armijo said the city didn’t explain why the ban was needed, and therefore she invalidated it.
For a while it was thought that the decision could not be appealed, because the Mayor and a majority of the city council approved of the decision. However, Pete Dinelli has intervened in the case and has appealed the decision to the Tenth Circuit. Dinelli, a Democrat, placed second in each of the last two Mayoral races. In the Tenth Circuit, the case is 13-2176.
“The outcome was surprising, because the U.S. Supreme Court has consistently upheld laws that ban corporation campaign contributions. Citizens United v FEC did not involve campaign contributions; instead it involved independent expenditures by corporations.”
Since 1971, I believe, tobacco companies have not been able to advertise their products on American radio and television. I wonder if RJ Reynolds would object if the law were changed to allow Super PACS to buy the advertising for them?
This distinction between contributing directly to a campaign and spending money on political ads on behalf of the campaign is the most monumental, steaming, stinking turd squeezed out of the USSC in the last 150 years.