Editing Corporate personhood (section)

====Corporate political spending====
A central point of debate in recent years has been what role corporate money plays and should play in democratic politics. This is part of the larger debate on [[Campaign finance reform in the United States|campaign finance reform]] and the role which money may play in politics.

In the United States, legal milestones in this debate include:
* [[Tillman Act of 1907]], banned corporate political contributions to national campaigns.
* [[Federal Election Campaign Act]] of 1971, campaign financing legislation.
* 1974 Amendments to Federal Election Campaign Act provided for first comprehensive system of regulation, including limitations on the size of contributions and expenditures and prohibitions on certain entities from contributing or spending, disclosure, creation of the Federal Election Commission as a regulatory agency, and government funding of presidential campaigns. 
* ''[[Buckley v. Valeo]],'' 424 [https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/424/1/case.html U.S. 1] (1976) upheld limits on campaign contributions, but held that spending money to influence elections is protected speech by the [[First Amendment to the United States Constitution|First Amendment]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/424/1/|title=Buckley v. Valeo, 424 U.S. 1 (1976)|work=Justia Law|access-date=2018-07-20|language=en}}</ref>
* ''[[First National Bank of Boston v. Bellotti]]'' (1978) upheld the rights of corporations to spend money in non-candidate elections (i.e. ballot initiatives and referendums).
* ''[[Austin v. Michigan Chamber of Commerce]]'' (1990) upheld the right of the state of Michigan to prohibit corporations from using money from their corporate treasuries to support or oppose candidates in elections, noting: "[c]orporate wealth can unfairly influence elections."
* [[Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002]] (McCain–Feingold), banned corporate funding of [[issue advocacy ads]] which mentioned candidates close to an election.
* ''[[McConnell v. Federal Election Commission]]'' (2003), substantially upheld McCain–Feingold.
* ''[[Federal Election Commission v. Wisconsin Right to Life, Inc.]]'' (2007) weakened McCain–Feingold, but upheld core of McConnell.
* ''[[Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission]],'' [[List of United States Supreme Court cases, volume 558|'''558''']] '''[https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/558/08-205/ U.S. 844]''' (2010): the Supreme Court of the United States held that corporate funding of independent broadcasts of films about political subjects when there is an upcoming election cannot be limited under the [[First Amendment to the United States Constitution|First Amendment]], overruling ''Austin'' (1990) and partly overruling ''McConnell'' (2003).<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/558/310/|title=Citizens United v. Federal Election Comm'n, 558 U.S. 310 (2010)|work=Justia Law|access-date=2018-07-20|language=en}}</ref>
* ''[[Western Tradition Partnership, Inc. v. Attorney General of Montana]]'' (2012). U.S. Supreme Court [[Summary judgement|summary reversal]] of a decision by the [[Montana Supreme Court]] holding that ''Citizens United'' did not preclude a Montana state law prohibiting corporate spending in elections.

The corporate personhood aspect of the campaign finance debate turns on ''Buckley v. Valeo'' (1976) and ''[[Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission]]'' (2010): ''Buckley'' ruled that political spending is protected by the [[First Amendment to the United States Constitution|First Amendment]] [[right to free speech]],<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-supreme-court/424/1.html|title=Buckley v. Valeo|website=Find Law|access-date=December 6, 2019}}</ref> while ''Citizens United'' ruled that corporate political spending is protected, holding that corporations have a First Amendment right to free speech because they are "associations of citizens" and hold the collected rights of the individual citizens who constitute them.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-supreme-court/08-205.html|title=Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission|website=Find Law|access-date=December 6, 2019}}</ref>