Montana, Other States, and John McCain File SCOTUS Briefs Urging Deference to Montana’s Century-Old Campaign Finance Statute

As we reported earlier this year, the Montana Supreme Court ruled in December of 2011 that the U.S. Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision did not invalidate Montana’s 100-year-old statutory regulations on corporate campaign spending. Predictably, Western Tradition — the plaintiff in the Montana case — petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court for certiorari (a form of discretionary appellate review). Western Tradition claims the Montana decision is so obviously wrong that the U.S. Supreme Court does not even need to consider briefing on the merits — that the Montana decision should just be overturned summarily.Last Friday Montana Attorney General Bullock filed the State’s brief in opposition to certiorari. These filings are public and a copy of Montana’s certiorari opposition brief can be found here. The Montana Trial Lawyers Association filed an amicus curiae brief in support of the Montana decision.Citizens United wasn’t just bad for working people, it was bad for just about everyone in the United States. That’s why New York and 20 other states have filed an amicus curiae brief in support of the Montana decision. Citizens’ United also troubles Senator John McCain (R-AZ), who has dedicated large portions of his career to campaign finance reform. McCain has publicly denounced Citizens’ United on more than one occasion. This kind of bipartisan criticism speaks volumes about how wrong the Citizens’ United decision was. McCain and a group of other senators have filed their own amicus curiae brief in support of the Montana decision.