The Montana Supreme Court, by a vote of 5-2 upheld the state's century-old ban on direct, general corporate treasury spending for or against political candidates. The majority opinion, written by Chief Justice Mike McGrath, cites New Politics of Judicial Elections, a report authored by James Sample last year.

An excerpt from the opinion reads: “Sandra Day O’Connor recently wrote in her introduction to The New Politics of Judicial Elections that the ‘crisis of confidence in the impartiality of the judiciary is real and growing.’ The Executive Summary in that same report noted a study of the nation’s ten most costly judicial elections shows the extraordinary spending power of ‘super spender groups,’ which are mostly corporate funded.”

Read the full opinion and coverage of the ruling at howappealing.law.com.