Can Montana end Citizens United? | The Indicator

Montana is trying to use a state ballot initiative, I-194, to limit corporate spending in elections by changing the conditions under which companies can do business in the state. The idea comes from Montana’s long history of resentment toward big-money influence in politics, dating back to William A. Clark’s bribery scandal and the later passage of the 17th Amendment.

The episode frames Citizens United as the legal turning point that supercharged independent political spending, with outside spending rising from less than $400 million before the ruling to close to $4.5 billion by 2024. A former Montana political practices commissioner and a former FEC lawyer helped design the initiative as a state corporate-law workaround rather than a direct attack on the First Amendment.

The argument is that the state can tell corporations what powers they get under Montana law, including whether they may donate to campaigns. But the episode also stresses the legal weakness of that theory: business groups oppose it, Hawaii’s similar law is already being challenged, and election-law experts expect a Supreme Court fight if Montana voters approve it. Even so, supporters see the effort as a public protest against money in politics.