General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Citizen's United or Roe vs. Wade? Which decision do you want overturned? [View all]BzaDem
(11,142 posts)Austin vs. Michigan Chamber of Commerce (decided in 1990) already decided the question. McConnell vs. FEC (decided in 2003) again decided the question. Corporate speech advocating the election or defeat of a candidate could be regualted/banned. The entire Citizens United case was whether or not to overrule Austin and McConnell, and they did so.
To explicitly overrule two precedents in the last 20 years, they cited two other precedents (Bellotti and Buckley). But Bellotti applied only to ballot measures and not candidate elections (and its opinion specifically stated this), and Buckley only applied to spending by individuals (not corporations). On the other hand, Austin and McConnell applied specifically to spending by corporations in candidate elections. They were both explicitly overruled.