Small Business Gains from Supreme Court Decision
The United States Supreme Court decision which President Obama attacked during his State of the Union speech has changed the political landscape in this country.
Amidst the spin by those who say this will remove the shackles from big business and labor, and those who say this is a victory for free speech, there is one group that is overlooked who gained in this decision – small business.
Here’s what changed and didn’t change as a result of this decision.
Corporate contributions to federal candidates are still illegal. Corporate contributions to political party organizations are still governed by state law.
The Supreme Court decision lifted the ban on businesses being able to spend money directly on the support or defeat of individual candidates by name. These actions have to be ‘independent expenditures” that cannot be coordinated with the campaign, however the Court does not define what the threshold is for “independent” from the campaign.