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37 Rutgers L. Rec. 1 (2010)

handle is hein.journals/rutglr37 and id is 1 raw text is: Rutgers Law Record RUTGERS LAW RECORD The Internet Journal of Rutgers School ofLaw | Newark www.lawrecord.com Volume 37 Emerging First Amendment Issues Spring 2010 Citizens United and the Press: Two Distinct Implications Seth Korman On its face, GtiZens United v. FederalElection Commission' is not about the press. In fact, the majority never explicitly mentions any freedom of the press concerns. Justice Scalia, in a short concurrence, alludes to the Press Clause only in passing, while Justice Stevens, in dissent, devotes only a short amount of space to First Amendment Press Clause issues. Yet GtiZens United may in fact have important implications for the press. This short essay touches on two of them-one legal, and one financial. Both involve the Court's new understanding of the Free Press and Free Speech clauses of the First Amendment. On the legal side, it discusses how the Court expands the legal definition of the press in two ways: by attacking federally sanctioned special treatment for the institutional press;2 and by appearing to expand the Speech Clause of the First Amendment while deemphasizing any heightened protection afforded by the Press Clause. On the business side, the essay applies the Court's expansion of freedom of speech for corporate entes to prior restrictions on nonprofit 501(c) (3) advocacy. While a full discussion of relevant tax policy remains beyond the scope of the essay, it does at least raise the issue of whether such restrictions must now be reconsidered in light of new political-speech privileges afforded to corporations, and whether such a shift may remove a major reservation of media companies (and particularly newspapers) in pursuing a 501(c) (3) model. * Editor-in-Chief, UCLA Law Review. B.A., M.A., J.D. (UCLA, 2010). I'd like to thank Adam Liptak, Amy Nickerson, and Adam Winkler for their thoughtful critiques, and the editors of the Rutgers Law Record for their fine editing. 1 Citizens United v. Federal Election Comm'n, No. 08-205, slip op. (U.S. Jan. 21, 2010). 2 Both the majority and dissenting opinions in Giens United use the term institutional press to describe those companies that currently receive favorable treatment as members of the press. See id.passim. Television, prnt, internet magazines, and blogs, all as currently understood by the average reader, would likely be included in this institutional press category. 1 Volume 37 Spring 2010

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