Montana! Yes, Big Sky country is taking on Big Money. Organizers in Montana have drafted a ballot referendum for voters to consider in 2026 that would no longer give corporations the power to spend on Montana’s ballot issues or in its local, state, and even federal elections. The best part? It would not require the Supreme Court to overturn its Citizens United ruling, which said the government cannot put any limits on independent political spending by corporations. Nor would this plan require an amendment to the U.S. Constitution... which would likely take years, if ever.
If this referendum passes in deep red Montana, it could easily spread to other states — including yours — whether through the ballot or in your legislature. So how does it work?
You see, corporations are creatures of state law. States create them, define them, and redefine them. The Supreme Court has held time and again that corporations are granted their powers by the states. As the Court itself said in 1819: “A corporation is an artificial being…invisible, intangible, and existing only in contemplation of law.” A state doesn’t have to give its corporations the power to issue stock, or acquire a smaller competitor, for example. And a state doesn’t have to give its corporations the power to spend in politics... ...which is exactly what Montana is trying to change.
With Citizens United, the Supreme Court said that the government cannot stop corporations from spending independently in elections. But unlike other corporate powers — and this is important — the states never clearly decided to give corporations political-spending powers in the first place.
When a state exercises its authority to define corporations as entities without the power to spend in politics, it’s no longer relevant whether corporations have a “right” to spend on politics because without the power to do so, the right to do so has no meaning. And here’s another important point: if Montanans vote to no longer grant their corporations the power to spend in elections, that decision would also keep the corporations chartered in the other 49 states out of Montana’s politics.
State by state, this would effectively neuter Citizens United, which by the way, is enormously unpopular. 75 percent of Americans disapprove of it... and it’s no wonder why. It has allowed corporations (and the billionaires that control them) to hijack our elections and distort our democracy while drowning out YOUR voice.
This plan out of Montana will go a long way to putting power back where it belongs: in the hands of the people. I urge Montana to pass this referendum denying corporations the power to spend in politics... and hope your state will follow Montana’s lead.
--Professor Robert Reich
This article was copied from Robert Reich's YouTube Video of April 2026 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p1fPbGHe3xE Robert Reichs full comments on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBGpEcPrbso Ali Velshi's comments on the same issue.