Not only was it "stupid", it was a classic example of legislating from the bench. They used this case as a vehicle to overturn close to a hundred years of prohibitions on political donations, which is corrupting influence on government.
It's turned a One Ring Circus into a Three Ring Circus complete with a clown car filled with tea bagger PACs.
And the far left propaganda continues to roll on....
501(c)(4) organizations are generally civic leagues and other corporations operated
exclusively for the promotion of "social welfare", such as civics and civics issues, or local associations of employees with membership limited to a designated company or people in a particular municipality or neighborhood, and with net earnings devoted exclusively to charitable, educational, or recreational purposes.[41] An organization is operated exclusively for the promotion of social welfare if it is primarily engaged in promoting the common good and general welfare of the people of the community.[37][42]
501(c)(4) organizations may inform the public on controversial subjects and attempt to influence legislation relevant to its program[43] and, unlike 501(c)(3) organizations, they may also participate in political campaigns and elections, as long as their primary activity is the promotion of social welfare.[44] The tax exemption for 501(c)(4) organizations applies to most of their operations, but contributions may be subject to gift tax, and income spent on political activities – generally the advocacy of a particular candidate in an election – is taxable.[45] An "action" organization generally qualifies as a 501(c)(4) organization.[46] An "action" organization is one whose activities substantially include, or are exclusively,[47] direct lobbying or grass roots lobbying related to advocacy for or against legislation or proposing, supporting, or opposing legislation that is related to its purpose.[48] A 501(c)(4) organization may directly or indirectly support or oppose a candidate for public office as long as such activities are not a substantial amount of its activities.[37][49]
Contributions to 501(c)(4) organizations are usually not deductible as charitable contributions for U.S. federal income tax, with a few exceptions.[50] Dues or contributions to 501(c)(4) organizations may be deductible as a business expense under IRC 162, although amounts paid for intervention or participation in any political campaign, direct lobbying, grass roots lobbying, and contact with certain federal officials are not deductible.[51] If a 501(c)(4) engages in a substantial amount of these activities, then only the amount of dues or contributions that can be attributed to other activities may be deductible as a business expense.[52] The organization should provide a notice to its members containing a reasonable estimate of the amount related to lobbying and political campaign expenditures, or else the organization is subject to a proxy tax on its lobbying and political campaign expenditures.[51] The organization should also provide an express statement that contributions to the organization are not deductible as charitable contributions during fundraising solicitations.[51]
501(c)(4) organizations are not required to disclose their donors publicly.[53] The lack of disclosure has led to extensive use of the 501(c)(4) provisions for organizations that are actively involved in lobbying, and has become controversial.[54][55] Criticized as "dark money", spending from these organizations on political TV ads has exceeded spending from Super PACs.[56][57]
The origins of 501(c)(4) organizations date back to the Revenue Act of 1913, which created a new group of tax-exempt organizations dedicated to social welfare in a precursor to what is now Internal Revenue Code Section 501(c)(4).[58]
501(c) organization - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
However the far left will never get this information as it would violate their programming as you can see with in this thread.
