Case Brief – Federal Election Case

Citation Citizen United v. Federal Election Commission, Supreme Court of the United States. An appeal from the Unites States District Court for the District of Columbia. No. 08-205. The case was argued on 24^th March, 2009, reargued on 9^th September, 2009 and decided on 21^st January, 2010.

The Citizen United is a non- profit organization that released a documentary by the name, Hillary. The organization has a yearly budget of $ 12 million with a bigger percentage of its funds coming from individual donations and a smaller percentage from corporations that make profit. The movie took ninety minutes and named Hillary Clinton in person, providing interviews with political commentators and other people criticizing the then senator Hillary Clinton, who was a candidate for the Democratic party’s presidential primary elections in 2008.. The movie was in the beginning released in the movie theatres and on DVDs before producing two advertisements taking ten seconds each and one advertisement taking thirty seconds in order to promote its viewing through video-on-demand. The movie and the advertisements led to concerns under § 441(b) of BCRA, that is Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of the year 2002. According to § 441(b), the federal law prohibits all the corporations, including the non-profit ones, from expressly advocating the election or the defeat of a candidate or broadcasting electioneering communications in thirty days of primary elections or within sixty days of general elections. The appellant, Citizen United challenges the constitutionality of § 441(b) as applied to the documentary, Hillary and the disclaimer and disclosure requirements of BCRA after denial of preliminary injunction by the District court.

Issue Is section 441b of BCRA that prohibits all the corporations, including the non-profit ones, from expressly advocating the election or the defeat of a candidate or broadcasting electioneering communications in thirty days of primary elections or within sixty days of general elections unconstitutional and violates the right to freedom of speech in the First amendment?

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