Justice Alito takes on critics of Citizens United case ruling. It was a 2010 Supreme Court decision that helped fuel hundreds of millions of dollars of spending by independent groups in the just-concluded campaign election season. Justice Alito stated that the First Amendment protects political speech, whether from an individual or a corporation. He stated that the nation's leading newspapers and television networks, all owned by corporations and possessing acknowledged rights to print and say what they wish about politics and government, shouldn't be the only ones permitted. He argued that freedom of speech that goes to the very heart of government should not be limited to certain preferred corporations; namely, media corporations.