Federal judge strikes down ban on corporate donations to candidates http://jurist.org/paperchase/2011/05/federal-judge-strikes-down-ban-on-corporate-donations-to-candidates.php

A judge for the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia [official website] on Thursday struck down [opinion, PDF] a campaign finance law which bans corporations from making contributions to federal candidates, citing the controversial Supreme Court decision in Citizens United [opinion; JURIST report]. Judge James Cacheris dismissed a criminal count against two men charged with illegally reimbursing individuals for almost $200,000 in contributions [WP report] to Hillary Clinton's 2006 senate and 2008 presidential primary campaign.

In dismissing the count, Cacheris stated that Citizens United had dissolved the legal underpinnings for the federal ban against direct contributions from corporations to a candidate:For better or worse, Citizens United held that there is no distinction between an individual and a corporation with respect to political speech. ... Corporations and human beings are entitled to equal political speech rights. ... Thus, if an individual can make direct contributions within [the law's] limits, a corporation cannot be banned from doing the same thing.