On January 21, 2010, the Supreme Court of the United States handed down one of its worst and most activist decisions ever. Indeed, in terms of harm caused and the likelihood for future harm, the Court’s decision in Citizens United is, likely, the most pernicious Supreme Court decision ever issued in our nation’s history.

A historical recap: Citizens United, a wealthy non-profit that ran a Political Action Committee with millions of dollars in assets, produced and promoted an anti-Hillary Clinton documentary movie to be used in the 2008 Democratic primary. The Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 prohibited electioneering communications within 30 days of the last primary election and within 60 days before the general election. Citizens United challenged the constitutionality of this ban, along with the Act’s disclaimer and disclosure requirements. The federal district court upheld the law and Citizens United’s appeal reached the Supreme Court.

Read FSFP Legal Advisory Committee member and former Montana Supreme Court Justice James Nelson’s full op-ed in the Montana Post here