Sotomayor Signals Support For Corporate Campaign Spending Rules

By Keith Perine | September 9, 2009 1:13 PM | | Comments (0)

In her first oral argument session since joining the Supreme Court, Justice Sonia Sotomayor signaled today that she does not agree that corporations should be allowed a freer hand to spend money to influence elections.

The case, Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, started as a non-profit corporation's challenge to restrictions in the 2002 McCain-Feingold campaign law to "electioneering conmunications" paid for out of corporate or union general treasury funds within 30 days before a primary or 60 days before a general election. Before Sotomayor joined the court, it broadened the case to consider whether to overturn two major campaign finance precedents.

Sotomayor sat quietly through almost a third of the session, before asking former Solicitor General Theodore B. Olson whether the plaintiff's side was "giving up on your earlier arguments" that the court could rule for the plaintiff without overturning the precedents.

Sotomayor said that a "difficulty" she had was that "we don't have any record developed below" on the question of voiding the precedents.

As the court's most junior justice, Sotomayor occupied the seat on the bench farthest to the left of the center seat occupied by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. She asked fewer questions than most of the other justices -- except Clarence Thomas, for whom absolute silence during oral arguments is a point of pride.

Later in the argument, Sotomayor observed aloud, regarding past court decisions that held corporations to be persons in many legal respects -- including eligibility for free speech protections -- that there could be an argument made that " that was the court's error to start with."

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