Corporate Campaign Spending/ Fires/ Student Aid

 Missoulian: U.S. Supreme Court nixes state's ban on corporatecampaign spending

American Tradition Partnership, Inc. v. Bullock

“A Montana state law provides that a “corporation may not make . . . an expenditure in connection with a candidate or a political committee that supports or opposes a candidate or a political party.” Mont. Code Ann. §13–35–227(1) (2011). The Montana Supreme Court rejected petitioners’ claim that this statute violates the First Amendment. 2011 MT 328, 363 Mont. 220, 271 P. 3d 1. In Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, this Court struck down a similar federal law, holding that “political speech does not lose First Amendment protection simply because its source is a corporation.” 558 U. S. ___, ___ (2010) (slip op., at 26) (internal quotation marks omitted). The question presented in this case is whether the holding of Citizens United applies to the Montana state law. There can be no serious doubt that it does. See U. S. Const., Art. VI, cl. 2. Montana’s arguments in support of the judgment below either were already rejected in Citizens United, or fail to meaningfully distinguish that case.

The petition for certiorari is granted. The judgment of the Supreme Court of Montana is reversed.”

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Missoulian: Feds: For-profits could lose federal student aid

Five Percent of Career Training Programs Risk Losing Accessto Federal Funds; 35 Percent Meet All Three Standards Under Gainful EmploymentReg 

“The new data, which covers career training programs at public, for-profit and non-profit schools, show that five percent of them—all located at for-profit colleges—do not meet any of three key requirements of the Department's Gainful Employment regulation. Eventually, these for-profit programs could lose access to federal student aid if they cannot improve performance.”-Education Department