Oops, Corporations Still Can't Contribute to Candidates
As Richard noted recently, federal district judge James Cacheris went out on a limb to overule a Supreme Court decision on campaign financing (Beaumont v. FEC). Basically Cacheris held that the prohibition on corporations making direct contributions to federal candidates (which Beaumont upheld) could not survive after last year's decision in Citizens United that corporations are entitled to the same free speech rights as individuals.
In the face of mounting criticism, Cacheris has, um, reconsidered his earlier decision and decided that he didn't really need to strike down Beaumont. This means that for the time being, corporations are still prohibited from contributing directly to federal candidates -- a prohibition, incidentally, that was sponsored by Senator Ben "Pitchfork" Tillman in 1907. Tillman was trying to block money going to Teddy Roosevelt because of TR's opposition to Jim Crow laws.
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