In the case of First National Bank of Boston et al. v. Bellotti, Attorney General of Massachusetts (1977), the U.S Supreme Court ruled that corporations have a First Amendment right to make contributions to ballot initiative campaigns. The court held in a 5-4 decision that the Massachusetts law prohibiting corporate donations unless they directly affected their business interests was unconstitutional as it violated free speech rights under the First Amendment. This ruling established precedent for later cases involving campaign finance and corporate political spending, asserting that corporations had similar constitutional protections to individuals when it came to political expression.

In the dissenting opinion for First National Bank of Boston v. Bellotti, Justice White argued that corporations are not members of society and should not have the same free speech rights as individuals. He contended that states have a legitimate interest in regulating corporate political activity to prevent undue influence over elections and policy decisions. The majority's decision, he believed, undermined these regulatory efforts by extending constitutional protections to corporate speech without sufficient justification or historical precedent. Furthermore, he expressed concern about the potential implications of this ruling on future cases involving campaign finance reform and other regulations aimed at limiting corporate power in politics.