A closely divided US Supreme Court made it easier on Monday for corporations, labour unions and special interest groups to broadcast certain issue advertisements right before an election.
In a ruling ahead of next year's presidential and congressional elections, the high court's conservative majority by a 5-4 vote narrowed the reach of a 2002 federal campaign finance law that seeks to limit the influence of money in politics.
The majority opinion written by Chief Justice John Roberts, who was appointed to the court by President George W. Bush, held that the law is unconstitutional as applied to certain issue advertisements that an anti-abortion group in Wisconsin wanted to broadcast before the 2004 election.
The ruling was a victory for the anti-abortion group Wisconsin Right to Life, which challenged the way the law was applied to ads it wanted to run. It argued the law violated its free-speech rights under the First Amendment to the Constitution.
"The First Amendment requires us to err on the side of protecting political speech rather than suppressing it," Roberts wrote in the majority opinion.
The court's four liberals dissented. "After today, the ban on contributions by corporations and unions and the limitation on their corrosive spending when they enter the political arena are open to easy circumvention," Justice David Souter said for the dissenters.
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