What constitutional principle underlies the Citizens United decision's reasoning about corporate political spending?

• A. The Fourth Amendment limits corporate political speech.
• B. The Second Amendment protects corporate political speech.
• C. The First Amendment free speech clause protects political expenditures by corporations.
• D. The Tenth Amendment reserves campaign funding to the states.

Answer: (C)

The core idea is that political spending by corporations is protected free speech under the First Amendment. Citizens United treats money spent to advocate for or against political causes as a form of expression, so restricting that spending would silence viewpoints and curb speech. Because corporations have the right to speak about public affairs, independent corporate expenditures in elections are protected, within narrow limits, by the First Amendment. The other amendments don’t address speech or spending in politics—Fourth Amendment deals with searches and seizures, Second with gun rights, and Tenth with states’ powers—so they aren’t the basis for this ruling.