Senator Tom Udall (D-NM-Junior). Representative Dennis J. Kucinich (D-OH-10). 1/21/2010. Firewall Between Candidates and Super PACs Breaking Down, The Hydraulics of Campaign Finance Reform, Affluence and Influence: Economic Inequality and Political Power in America. Allowing corporate influence to flow unfettered into federal campaigns will only undermine the confidence the American people have in their government, and serve only to stack the deck further in favor of special interests at the expense of hardworking Americans. Today’s U.S. Supreme Court decision on campaign financing is a shameful step backward toward big money special interests exercising too much influence over American political campaigns. Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA-08).

This ruling is no doubt yet another victory for Wall Street, at the expense of Main Street America. It is a mistake that ignores a century of legal precedent, critical reforms made by Congress, and most importantly, the role of individual citizens in the political process.

The Institute for Free Speech promotes and defends the First Amendment rights to freely speak, assemble, publish, and petition the government.

Legal Statement. In fact, it was the decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia in SpeechNOW.org v. FEC (2010) that allowed the creation of super PACs. 1/21/2010. Of course rich Americans hold diverse preferences, just as the poor and the middle class. Office of Senator Durbin. 1/28/2010. 2/11/2010.

Rather than drown out the little guy, this option allows groups, be they Citizens United, the National Rifle Association, or the Family Research Council, to be a megaphone for the little guy, informing the voters of what’s at stake. Office of Representative Van Hollen. I have introduced this important [constitutional amendment] today because the Supreme Court’s ruling strikes at the very core of democracy in the United States by inflating the speech rights of large, faceless corporations to the same level of hard-working, every day Americans. There is no more effective way to concentrate even more money and power in the hands of the wealthy. Citizens United disputed the regulation that prohibited corporations and unions from directly paying for advertisements that supported or denounced a specific candidate within 30 days of a primary election or 60 days of a general election. 1/21/2010. By effectively legislating in areas that Congress has set reasonable guidelines, the Supreme Court is swinging the door wide open for special interests and corporate America to have an even greater influence over our political system. Robert C. Post, a professor at Yale Law School, also views Justice Kennedy’s views as exceptionally shortsighted, declaring in a 2013 lecture that. With the stroke of a pen, the conservative-leaning Supreme Court undermined the ability of everyday Americans to impact the course of American elections. Representative Alan Grayson (D-FL-08). Kennedy wrote: “If the First Amendment has any force, it prohibits Congress from fining or jailing citizens, or associations of citizens, for simply engaging in political speech.” The majority ruling also overruled provisions in earlier Supreme Court decisions which allowed restrictions on corporate spending on election campaigns, including Austin v. Michigan Chamber of Commerce (1990) and McConnell v. FEC (2003). On Thursday, the Court overruled that earlier case and also part of a 2003 case involving BCRA, finding the earlier anti-distortion rationale to be “unconvincing and insufficient” to justify government censorship of political speech. WPTZ.com. 2/9/2010. Today’s decision by the U.S. Supreme Court is a victory for special interests at the expense of the average American. So how did they conduct this delicate transaction? Representative John Conyers Jr. (D-MI-14). “The power of that money is an intimidating effect that is going to compromise the political process and I think compromise folks’ already fragile trust in the institution of these elections,” said Welch. To see how this operates in practice, let’s take a look at how Paul Ryan, the outgoing speaker of the House, negotiated a path — narrowly constructed to stay on the right side of the law — during a recent fund-raising trip to Las Vegas, as recounted in detail by Politico. “There is a difference between judicial restraint and judicial abdication,” wrote Roberts. This ruling now allows big corporations to spend large amounts of money to influence elections far beyond the ability of individual Americans.

Office of Senator Snowe. But, as many have argued in response, quid pro quo corruption is far too narrow a governmental interest to identify as constitutionally relevant.

Citizens United’s argument that Austin should be overruled is “not a new claim.” Lebron, 513 U. S., at 379. [Today is] a dark day for democracy and a dark day for average citizens. Roll Call. The most worrying perceived result of the Citizens United decision was the rise of “super PACs,” or “political action committees,” which do not themselves contribute to political candidates or parties but can accept unlimited contributions from individuals, corporations, and labor unions. Office of Senator Brown (Sherrod). or redistributed. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. 1/21/2010. The Leadership Fund, according to its website, is “a super PAC exclusively dedicated to protecting and strengthening the Republican Majority in the House of Representatives.” It “operates independently of any federal candidate or officeholder.”.

1/21/2010. Representative Michael N. Castle (R-DE-At-Large). Today’s disastrous decision is a long step towards government of the CEOs, by the CEOs, and for the CEOs.

The court, Wertheimer continued, was “misguided and naïve” in making the, assertion in Citizens United without citing a single piece of evidence for this finding that “the appearance of influence or access, furthermore, will not cause the electorate to lose faith in this democracy.”. 1/21/2010.

Office of Senator Dodd. 2/2/2010. So the Chief Justice, joined by Justice Alito, wrote a separate concurrence to address this important problem. And if there’s one time where it’s most critical to inform our fellow citizens, it’s in the days leading up to an election, where we as a people must choose who will wield the power to rule over us.Citizens United v. FEC is a “big victory” alright. Post contended that in many respects Citizens United is a failed attempt to address a problem created by Buckley v. Valeo. If stare decisis were an “inexorable command,” he explained, “segregation would be legal, minimum wage laws would be unconstitutional, and the Government could wiretap ordinary criminal suspects without first obtaining warrants.”.

Senator Tom Udall (D-NM-Junior). Along the same lines, a 2015 note in the Harvard Law Review concluded: Candidate assistance with super PAC fund-raising efforts has pushed at the boundaries of this legally mandated independence, allowing a level of coordination that many observers believe creates a real threat of quid pro quo corruption. The American system of campaign finance, undergirded by a Supreme Court whose conservative members feign innocence, has become the enabler of corrosive processes of economic and political inequality. Roll Call. Senator Patrick J. Leahy (D-VT-Senior). As a lawyer who consults with various U.S. firms on constitutional issues and as author of a text on British constitutional law, Dr. Michael Arnheim is uniquely qualified to present an unbiased view of the U.S. Constitution, what it says, what it means, and how it's been interpreted in a variety of situations. Citizens United disputed the regulation that prohibited corporations and unions from directly paying for advertisements that supported or denounced a specific candidate within 30 days of a primary election or 60 days of a general election. The key changes in campaign finance practices over the past eight years stem from the ruling in Citizens United and Speech Now that contributions to independent expenditure committees, including super PACs, pose no threat of “quid pro quo” political corruption. 2/2/2010. 28, 2010) The Federalist Society: Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission – Podcast (Apr. Solicitor General Ted Olson—a living legend among Supreme Court lawyers—fought it out against Barack Obama’s Justice Department.

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