Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, a 2010 Supreme Court case involving the regulation of political campaign spending by organizations, is one of the Court’s worst decisions of all time. The Court made a grave error with the Citizens United decision, and we should work hard to see it overturned.

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In the decision, the Supreme Court held, in a 5–4 vote, that the Free Speech clause of the First Amendment prohibits the government from restricting independent expenditures for communications by nonprofit corporations, for-profit corporations, labor unions, and other associations – meaning these organizations can now spend unlimited amounts of money on political activities as long as they don’t give money directly to political candidates and their spending is not coordinated with any candidate (a “prohibition” that is a total joke).

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This decision – together with another awful federal court decision, SpeechNow.org v. Federal Election Commission – gave rise to so-called Super PACs.  Super PACs, or “independent expenditure only” committees, can raise unlimited sums of money from corporations, unions, associations and individuals, then spend unlimited amounts of money to advocate for or against political candidates.

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The Citizens United decision is deeply flawed mainly for its unintended consequences, because the Federal Election Commission’s (FEC) interpretation of it has caused even more damage than the decision itself. The Supreme Court held that independent expenditures should be “totally independent” of candidates and made it clear that corporate spending should be fully disclosed.  However, neither is being properly enforced, to say the least. Because they are allowed to be shady, Super PACs – in conspiracy with their candidates – have taken political warfare to a new level.

 

The Supreme Court’s ruling included this statement: “We now conclude that independent expenditures, including those made by corporations, do not give rise to corruption or the appearance of corruption.”  Let’s check to see if that’s actually true…

A report by Issue One, a nonpartisan nonprofit organization, found that “twelve political megadonors – at least eight of whom are billionaires – are responsible for $1 of every $13 in federal elections since Citizens United and 25 percent of all giving from the top 100 ZIP codes – a total of $3.4 billion.”

 

We don’t know about you, but that sure doesn’t sound right to us.