An End Run Around Citizens United
April 6, 2026
Digby's Hullabaloo
AI Analysis: Appeal to Fear
Montana is taking on the billionaires A good friend flagged this news last night. After this weekend, maybe you need some light at the end of the tunnel as well. A proposed ballot initiative in Montana aims to “limit corporate spending in Montana elections.” Naturally, the Big Money Boyz challenged it in court. And lost last week in a unanimous decision from the Montana Supreme Court (The Daily Montanan): In a unanimous decision, the court said reviewing the constitutionality of an initiative is “disfavored” because Montanans have a right to go through the initiative process.
Organizers behind the Transparent Election Initiative were cleared to begin gathering signatures last month to put I-194, or Ballot Issue 10, on the ballot in November. The statutory initiative, dubbed “The Montana Plan,” would create a new Montana law to prohibit corporations — known in law as “artificial persons” — from spending money on political candidates or ballot issues. The Montana Plan is a direct challenge to the federal Citizens United ruling wherein the U.S. Supreme Court said that the power to spend money in elections is tantamount to free speech. Well then, the Montana Mining Association, the Montana Chamber of Commerce, Montana Stockgrowers Association, Montana Petroleum Association, Montana Trucking Association, Montana Contractors Association, Treasure State Resource Association, and the chambers of commerce in Billings and Kalispell got all up in the grill of the initiative’s backers. They’ve grown accustomed to throwing their weight (and their money) around and want to keep doing it. Corporate campaign spending is not
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Technique: Appeal to Fear
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