HELENA – The Montana Supreme Court has rejected a challenge to an initiative that asks voters to say that corporations are not entitled to constitutional rights.
I-166 was approved in July for the November ballot. It would direct Montana’s congressional delegation to seek an amendment to the U.S. Constitution that would reverse a 2010 U.S. Supreme Court decision granting protected political speech to corporations.
A group challenged the initiative’s legality and said the attorney general’s office shouldn’t have approved the ballot statements. The group also said the initiative is unlawful because it is a resolution and not a law.
The Supreme Court ruled 5-1 Friday to leave I-166 on the ballot. Chief Justice Mike McGrath writes that the attorney general’s review was sound.