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The people's will, the midnight versionThe Supreme Court began its fall term this week. This seems like a good time to pause for a moment and revisit how decisions by Chief Justice John Roberts and four of his Supreme Court colleagues during the past five years have given the nation a system of legalized bribery. On January 21, 2010, the Supreme Court issued a 5 to 4 decision in Citizens United that rewrote the rules of American politics and did enormous damage to the nation's anti-corruption campaign finance laws. There is no particular reason to believe the five Justices knew the political chaos they were unleashing. The Justices' naïveté is reflected in Justice Kennedy's opinion, which asserted that there is nothing wrong with using political money to obtain access and influence and that "the appearance of access and influence will not cause the electorate to lose faith in this democracy." Justice Kennedy's strange prediction about the faith of the electorate, without citing any basis for his prophecy, and his view that there is nothing wrong with donors buying access and influence have been overwhelmingly rejected by the American people. According to a New York Times article (June 2, 2015) describing a New York Times /CBS News poll, "Americans of both parties fundamentally reject the regime of untrammeled money in elections made possible by the Supreme Court's Citizens United ruling and other court decisions." Eighty-five percent of respondents to the poll supported the position that fundamental change or a complete overhaul of the campaign finance system is needed. According to a Bloomberg News poll (September 28, 2015), an overwhelming 78 percent of the public reject the Citizens United decision and believe it should be overturned. Fred W. |
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