Austin v. Michigan Chamber of Commerce

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Austin v. Michigan Chamber of Commerce
Seal of the United States Supreme Court.svg
Supreme Court of the United States
Argued October 31, 1989
Decided March 27, 1990
Full case name Austin, Michigan Secretary of State, et al. v. Michigan Chamber of Commerce
Citations 494 U.S. 652 (more)
110 S. Ct. 1391; 108 L. Ed. 2d 652; 1990 U.S. LEXIS 1665; 58 U.S.L.W. 4371
Holding
The Michigan Campaign Finance Act, which prohibited corporations from using treasury money to support or oppose candidates in elections, did not violate the First or the Fourteenth Amendment.
Court membership
Case opinions
Majority Marshall, joined by Rehnquist, Brennan, White, Blackmun, Stevens
Concurrence Brennan
Concurrence Stevens
Dissent Scalia
Dissent Kennedy, joined by O'Connor, Scalia
Laws applied
First and Fourteenth Amendments of the United States Constitution
Overruled by
Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, 558 U.S. ___ (2010)

Austin v. Michigan Chamber of Commerce, 494 U.S. 652 (1990), was a case in which the Supreme Court of the United States held that the Michigan Campaign Finance Act, which prohibited corporations from using treasury money to support or oppose candidates in elections, did not violate the First and Fourteenth Amendments. The Court upheld the restriction on corporate speech "Corporate wealth can unfairly influence elections"), and the Michigan law still allowed the corporation to make contributions from a segregated fund.

Louis J. Caruso, Lansing, Michigan, argued on the side of the appellants (Michigan Chamber of Commerce). Richard D. McLellan, Lansing, Michigan, for appellee (Austin).[1]

The case recognized a state's compelling interest in combating a "different type of corruption in the political arena: the corrosive and distorting effects of immense aggregations of wealth that are accumulated with the help of the corporate form and that have little or no correlation to the public's support for the corporation's political ideas."

The decision was overruled by Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, 558 U.S. 50 (2010).[2]

See also [edit]

References [edit]

External links [edit]

  • 494 U.S. 652 (Full text of the decision courtesy of Findlaw.com)