Just days after the landmark Supreme Court ruling that bestowed free speech rights upon corporations and opened the door for their unlimited electioneering, Congressional Democrats are already seeking to roll back the decision, claiming that it paves the way for foreign interests to influence American elections.

Many experts believe that the decision will allow U.S. subsidiaries of foreign corporations to spend unlimited amounts of money to influence federal elections. Some even believe that the decision could allow corporations controlled by foreign governments to have a say in American elections.

“The sweeping freedom of speech rhetoric would have applicability to foreigners,” Edward Foley, an election-law expert at The Ohio State University, told the Web site Talking Points Memo.

“The court has, in effect, legalized foreign governments and foreign corporations to participate in our electoral politics,” Pat Choate, an author and former Reform Party candidate for vice president, told Politico. “It’ll happen instantaneously. It’ll happen in the 2010 elections. … The Japanese corporations, the European corporations will do it instantly through American subsidiaries.”

Rep. Chris Van Hollen and Sen. Chuck Schumer are reportedly working with the White House to craft legislation that would ensure that foreign companies can not pour cash into elections and would require a shareholder vote before corporations spend enormous sums in electoral contests.

Many critics of the ruling fear that there will now be nothing to stop a foreign-owned corporation from spending huge sums to defeat a candidate that is not perfectly aligned with their interests. For instance, the ruling opens the door for Toyota to spend billions to defeat a U.S. Senator that supports imposing tariffs on imports of Japanese automobiles. The Chinese government itself could use one of its many state-owned corporations to similarly influence elections.

“I don’t think anybody wants to see foreign corporations spending money to influence the outcome of American elections in a way that serves foreign interests and not the interests of American citizens,” Rep. Van Hollen (D-Md.) told POLITICO. “It’s very clear that, based on the reasoning in the opinion, foreign corporations through U.S. subsidiaries could spend millions of dollars to influence the outcome of American elections unless we prevent that from happening.”

Print PDF