Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission (2010)

Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission is a 2010 Supreme Court case regarding the constitutionality of portions of the 2002 Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (BCRA), also known as the McCain-Feingold Act. Initially, the case raised the relatively narrow issue of whether or not the BCRA permitted a nonprofit group to air a film critical of Hillary Clinton during the Democratic presidential primary; however, a divided court overturned the previous precedent, ruling that portions of the BCRA were unconstitutional infringements on free speech. The decision had far-reaching implications, with many analysts arguing that the ruling resulted in the creation of so-called super political action committees (PACS) and the record-breaking sums spent in the 2012 election cycle. Critics of the ruling note that although super PACS are ...