Romney Backs Citizens United, But 'Not Wild' About Corporate Campaign Spending [VIDEO]

Romney, speaking to a local New Hampshire paper's editorial board, said he supported the January 2010 ruling that decided political spending from corporations is speech protected under the First Amendment. Corporations can now pump money into groups to run ads in supporting or against a candidate.

I'm not wild about the idea of corporations making political contributions as a concept, Romney told the Portsmouth Herald. I think their decision was a correct decision. I support their decision. I wish we could find a way to get money out of politics. I haven't found a way to do that.

He said that the five justices in the majority based their ruling on the U.S. Constitution and applied the law evenly, arguing that you can't say some corporations -- unions, for instance -- can make political contributions but other corporations can't.

Citizens United, however, knocked down precedent limiting political spending from both corporations and unions.

Romney's mentioned Citizens United when asked about criticism that the current court is a conservative activist court in the realm of individual privacy and government power.

Praises High Court's Four Conservatives

The former governor also discussed his views on judicial activism and his thoughts on judicial philosophy.

He praised the four conservatives on the Supreme Court: Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Antonin Scalia and Chief Justice John Roberts.

There are other folks who feel... the Constitution and the law as written is not a launching point but is, instead, a beginning and ending point, that the job of the court is to follow the constitution and follow the law as enacted by Congress, Romney said, adding that he falls in that camp.

If there is something wrong with a law or with the Constitution, Romney argued, the remedy is an amendment or new legislation, not changed through the court.

Instead of creating [change] from the bench, they can express their views and their opinion, and say, 'This is something that must be addressed, we encourage the nation to address this' and have the nation take on the action that is necessary to address those issues, Romney said. As opposed to saying, we're going to let some unelected lifetime individual decide what's right for America.