Bloomberg covers a new report released by Center for American Progress, which advocates more aggressive use of shareholder suits to curb the kind of campaign spending permitted after Citizens United (and especially the D.C. Circuit’s decision in SpeechNow on superPACs):

“That threat of legal action could make executives of publicly traded companies less likely to donate to political causes and groups, said Tom Moore, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress and a co-author of the analysis.”

But:

“Not all campaign finance lawyers are convinced the idea can work. Jason Torchinsky, an attorney with Holtzman Vogel who was general counsel to former President George W. Bush’s 2004 reelection campaign, said he couldn’t see what harm a shareholder could show. Companies that earn billions in profit spend a relatively small amount on politics, he said, and in a manner that aligns with their business interests.”

Time will tell whether this proposed strategy lives up to the expectation that it “could play a major role in the 2024 elections with corporations more cautious to donate.”