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In a 5-4 decision on Thursday the Supreme Court ruled that corporations and unions could spend their own money to run adds explicitly for or against candidates. The ruling changed the prevailing trend of trying to limit the influence of labor and corporations on elections. the ruling struck down a 63 year-old and parts of the McCain-Feingold Act that stopped corporate and union adds from running on air in the last days of an election. The ruling did leave in place restrictions on donations to candidates and political parties, as well as companies rights to have employees donate to political action committees. The court upheld the provision of the law that requires unions and corporations to identify the source of their money. While the President called the ruling a windfall for corporations and special interest groups, some analysts believe that the ruling might be the most beneficial for the unions. Thy believe that the new ruling will empower the unions to become more involved in the political process rather than corporations, who may hesitate to attach their name to explicit ads.