Montana — A federal lawsuit filed the same day voters approved I-194 set up a court fight over whether the state can limit political spending by corporations and other groups.
The measure passed with broad support from Montana voters. It aimed to limit corporate money in politics, but five organizations sued and argued it violated the First Amendment.
I-194 restricted political spending by corporations, nonprofits and other organizations. The Frontier Institute and Montana Republican Party were among the groups that sued.
The groups wanted a judge to block I-194 before it took effect Jan. 1.
Lee Banville, director of the UM School of Journalism, said the legal fight put voter support up against constitutional law.
"So, like sometimes the will of the voter doesn't line up with the law of the land. And so this is what we'll see play out in this lawsuit," said Lee Banville.
Frontier Institute President and CEO Kendall Cotton said the measure could punish what he described as routine speech about local issues and ballot proposals.
"And it threatens us with penalties for what would be really ordinary speech about a ballot proposal or about a local property tax levy. Even if we, you know, do something as simple as posting something on Facebook about the merits of our proposal, we are threatened with penalties under this initiative. We think that's wrong. We think that's, frankly, unconstitutional," said Kendall Cotton.
Organizations that violated the law could lose certain corporate privileges. The measure included exceptions for political committees and some news and commentary, though Cotton said those carveouts were unclear.
Banville said the lawsuit was not unexpected because of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling, which protected independent political spending by corporations.
"It's not surprising that that's going to play out in federal court, because it really is the constitutional decision in Citizens United against the will of the voters in Montana. That said pretty clearly that they would like to ban dark money in the state," said Lee Banville.
In a September column published by the Flathead Beacon, I-194 supporter Jeff Mangan argued businesses could still educate the public about local issues, but could not use corporate funds to campaign for or against ballot measures.
NonStop Local reached out to Mangan about the lawsuit but did not hear back by airtime.
The measure passed with broad support from Montana voters. It aimed to limit corporate money in politics, but five organizations sued and argued it violated the First Amendment.
I-194 restricted political spending by corporations, nonprofits and other organizations. The Frontier Institute and Montana Republican Party were among the groups that sued.
The groups wanted a judge to block I-194 before it took effect Jan. 1.
Lee Banville, director of the UM School of Journalism, said the legal fight put voter support up against constitutional law.
"So, like sometimes the will of the voter doesn't line up with the law of the land. And so this is what we'll see play out in this lawsuit," said Lee Banville.
Frontier Institute President and CEO Kendall Cotton said the measure could punish what he described as routine speech about local issues and ballot proposals.
"And it threatens us with penalties for what would be really ordinary speech about a ballot proposal or about a local property tax levy. Even if we, you know, do something as simple as posting something on Facebook about the merits of our proposal, we are threatened with penalties under this initiative. We think that's wrong. We think that's, frankly, unconstitutional," said Kendall Cotton.
Organizations that violated the law could lose certain corporate privileges. The measure included exceptions for political committees and some news and commentary, though Cotton said those carveouts were unclear.
Banville said the lawsuit was not unexpected because of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling, which protected independent political spending by corporations.
"It's not surprising that that's going to play out in federal court, because it really is the constitutional decision in Citizens United against the will of the voters in Montana. That said pretty clearly that they would like to ban dark money in the state," said Lee Banville.
In a September column published by the Flathead Beacon, I-194 supporter Jeff Mangan argued businesses could still educate the public about local issues, but could not use corporate funds to campaign for or against ballot measures.
NonStop Local reached out to Mangan about the lawsuit but did not hear back by airtime.
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