Citizens United

Historically, the Supreme Court has ruled that campaign spending is

• freedom of speech

• too expensive; makes it difficult for those with little money to get elected

• irrelevant

• cheap. We need to spend more.

The supreme court has previously upheld laws that

• limit campaign expenditures, but not donations

• limit campaign donations, but not expenditures

• limit both campaign donations AND expenditures

• do not limit campaign donations or expenditures

In 2018, individuals could give at most this amount to a candidate in a federal election

• $1000

• $1500

• $2500

• $2700

Citizens United v. FEC was about....

• How much individuals can donate to a campaign

• How much corporations can donate to a campaign

• How and when Corporations and other organizations can spend of their own money to advocate for or against a candidate

• How and when Corporations can contribute directly to a candidate.

The main impetus for Citizen's United was

• BCRA Limits on individual donations

• BCRA Limits on corporate donations

• BCRA Limits on ads played within 30 days of a primary election

• BCRA Limits on ads played within 60 days of a primary election

All of the following were arguments by the petitioner (Citizens United), EXCEPT (these are paraphrased)

• Newspapers are corporations too and they produce editorials

• Well, we might as well ban all political books too when we are coming up to an election

• Incumbents have access to more free publicity and, as such, have the most to gain by banning independent expenditures

• Corruption is not limited to bribes and direct transactions

All of the following were arguments of the respondent (FEC), EXCEPT (these are paraphrased)

• The 1st amendment does not apply to corporations

• Even if there is no corruption, it can still look that way

• The first amendment applies equally to speech by individuals and speech by groups

• Corporations have so much money, they'll drown out the smaller voices

Given Citizens United, the FEC can still do all of the following, EXCEPT

• disallow direct corporate campaign contributions to candidates

• require campaign ads to display who is paying for the ad and whether it was authorized by a candidate

• prohibit "express advocacy" ads within 30 days of a primary election

• limit PACs to only donating $5,000 to each candidate it supports

What is a PAC?

• Personal Aikido Coach

• Pretty American Coat

• Political Action Committee

• Politically Active Corporation