First National Bank of Boston v. Bellotti

In First National Bank of Boston v. Bellotti, 435 U.S. 765 (1978), the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that corporations had a First Amendment right to make contributions in order to attempt to influence political processes. In his opinion, Justice Lewis Powell ruled that a Massachusetts criminal statute prohibiting the expenditure of corporate funds "for the purpose of . . . influencing or affecting" voters' opinions infringed on corporations' "protected speech in a manner unjustified by a compelling state interest."