The U.S. Supreme Court has removed limits on political advocacy by corporations, but it’s not clear how many businesses will exercise their free-speech rights as a result of this decision.

In a 5-4 decision announced January 21, the court overturned past rulings that prohibited corporations or unions from buying ads expressly advocating the election or defeat of political candidates. The court also reaffirmed a ruling that threw out a ban on corporate-funded issue ads that mention a candidate in the weeks just prior to an election.

In the opinion written for the majority, Justice Anthony Kennedy said the government “may regulate corporate political speech through disclaimer and disclosure requirements, but it may not suppress that speech altogether.”

President Barack Obama and groups concerned about the influence of money in politics condemned the court’s decision, contending it would enable corporations to essentially buy members of Congress.

“This ruling opens the floodgates for an unlimited amount of special-interest money,” Obama said. “It gives the special-interest lobbyists new leverage to spend millions on advertising to persuade elected officials to vote their way—or to punish those who don’t.”

“Corporations will own our government,” said Steve Hildebrand, a former strategist for Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign and strategic consultant for Public Campaign Action Fund and Common Cause.

“We are moving to an age where we won’t have the senator from Arkansas or the congressman from North Carolina, but the senator from Wal-Mart and the congressman from Bank of America,” said Melanie Sloan, executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.

Other experts on campaign financing, however, doubt that corporations will run their own ads for or against candidates because that could alienate many of their customers.

“I see almost no benefit in a corporation running their own ads,” said Trevor Potter, a former Federal Elections Commission chairman, general counsel for John McCain’s 2008 presidential campaign, and current head of Caplin & Drysdale’s political-activity law practice.

Instead, businesses that feel strongly about issues in Washington likely will keep doing what they’ve been doing—contributing money to umbrella groups like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce for use in political campaigns.

The Chamber spent more than $36 million on political activities in the 2008 election cycle and plans to spend even more this year.