Senators John McCain (R-AZ) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) have just filed a brief with the U.S. Supreme Court that echoes the arguments we made in our own brief.

Free Speech For People’s amicus brief was the first such brief filed in this case, and we also led the filing of a brief in the state court case that is now being appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Senators Urge Supreme Court to Uphold Law Banning Corporate Donations

By Eliza Newlin Carney
Roll Call Staff
May 18, 2012, Noon

Campaign finance reform advocates pushing the Supreme Court to revisit its 2010 Citizens United ruling to deregulate political spending got a surprise boost today from Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.).

In an unusual bipartisan alliance that is sure to be closely watched, McCain and Whitehouse filed an amicus brief to the Supreme Court urging it to let stand a Montana law that bans corporate campaign expenditures. Montana Attorney General Steve Bullock is also scheduled to file a friend of the court brief today, with the backing of up to two dozen state attorneys general.

“Evidence from the 2010 and 2012 electoral cycles has demonstrated that so-called independent expenditures create a strong potential for corruption and the appearance thereof,” McCain and Whitehouse wrote in their amicus brief. “The news confirms, daily, that existing campaign finance rules purporting to provide for ‘independence’ and ‘disclosure’ in fact provide neither.”

An unusually large number of amicus briefs have flooded the high court as it weighs whether to take up a legal challenge to the Montana law, which has become a flashpoint in the ongoing fight over unrestricted campaign spending in 2012. The deadline for filing amicus briefs is today. Four House Democrats, including leading reform advocate Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), also filed a brief siding with Montana today, and other briefs were expected before the close of business.

(Continued at Roll Call)