Montana looks to get around Citizens United

Given how corrupt our governance, including the judiciary, now is, the odds may not be great for this becoming and staying law in a lot of places, or for that matter any at all. But it’s very well worth a try.

The idea comes from Tom Moore, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress and a former chief of staff to Federal Election Commission Commissioner Ellen Weintraub. In a white paper released on September 15, 2025, Moore explained that “The states’ authority is absolute in terms of how they define their corporations and which powers they decide to give their corporations.” He described this as “basic foundational corporation law,” noting that most states have historically issued very broad charters to corporations but are not required to do so…

In June, the framework became the foundation for “The Montana Plan,” which now sits at the center of a proposed constitutional amendment asking voters whether Montana should redefine corporate charters to prohibit corporate spending in elections.

The initiative has broad support. An October 2025 poll by Issue One found that 74 percent of Montana voters support the measure, including majorities of Republicans and independents. Moore pointed to the significance of this political setting, stating, “It’s a red state, which is useful, I think,” because it shows that “it’s not just lefty liberals who don’t like dark and corporate money in their politics.” - Nation of Change

Doing something about dark money

This article gets into some recent efforts.

Politicians would be much more responsive to their constituents if these dark money donors had to show their game faces to the world instead of surreptitiously subverting the public’s health, fortunes and wellbeing.

But here’s good news. A workable strategy is emerging that can rip the masks from the faces of would-be oligarchs and force their deeds into the sunlight, the best disinfectant. Change for the better has already begun to work without the help or hindrance of Congress...

Eventually, citizens working together can find cracks in the campaign finance system and keep adding pressure until something gives way. This is precisely what democracy needs in this country now—added pressure so that campaign finance and our political system can work for all of us, not as a gamed system driven by the demands of the greedy among the wealthy. - DCReport

How Trump's SCOTUS is paid for

Disgraceful, that this is legal, and happens. And imagine the freakouts on the right, and the corporate media attention, if progressives did this kind of shit.

A close informal advisor to President Trump who has been deeply involved in all three of his Supreme Court nomination battles is the sole trustee of a mysterious group that brought in more than $80 million in 2018, according to a previously unreported tax return uncovered by CREW. The filing vastly expands the amount of money known to be flowing into the growing constellation of dark money groups tied to Federalist Society co-chairman Leonard Leo and provides new details about his role in a secretive firm that was responsible for one of the largest donations received by President Trump’s inaugural committee.

What makes Rule of Law Trust (RLT) particularly interesting is that despite its $80 million haul, the group seems remarkably hollow. It claimed it had no employees and no volunteers in its first year and listed what appears to be a virtual office in Virginia as its main address. Its stated mission is “to advance conservative principles and causes through communications, research, strategy and assistance to other organizations,” but there’s no apparent public information to demonstrate what that work entails, not even a website. - CREW