Montana votes to ban corporate political money. Next stop? Probably the Supreme Court

Montana voters have approved a state-level strategy to restrict corporate political spending, setting up a likely constitutional fight over whether states can limit companies’ political activity by regulating their legal privileges. Supporters frame the measure as a defence of state authority; opponents say it circumvents the Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling and violates free speech protections.

A similar law passed in Hawaii in May is already facing lawsuits from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other groups, while the ACLU has argued against it in court. Experts say the dispute could reach the Supreme Court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority and recently struck down limits on coordinated political-party spending. Montana previously banned corporate campaign spending in 1912, but the Supreme Court overturned that law in 2012; the state’s Republican-controlled legislature could also weaken or repeal the new measure.