There is very little to like about the U. S. Supreme Court ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, 558 U.S. 50 (2010). In one solitary decision, the nation’s most learned and august body of jurists paved the way for corporations, unions and other well-heeled special interest groups to subvert the electoral process through massive campaign contributions. Supporters trumpet the ruling as a victory for the First Amendment. It cut wealthy campaign benefactors free of the fetters placed on them by a century of legal precedence as well as the 2002 Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (commonly known as the McCain–Feingold Act or BCRA).
In a recent speech delivered in Little Rock, retired Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens applauded President Barak Obama’s State of the Union criticisms of the decision. In his address before Congress, Obama said the 5-4 ruling “reversed a century of law,” adding it would “open the floodgates for special interests — including foreign corporations — to spend without limit in our elections.”
Stevens concurs: “In that succinct comment, the former professor of constitutional law at the University of Chicago made three important and accurate observations about the Supreme Court majority’s opinion. First, it did reverse a century of law; second, it did authorize unlimited election-related expenditures by America’s most powerful interests; and, third, the logic of the opinion extends to money spent by foreign entities,” the retired jurist said.
Reiterating his 2010 dissent, Stevens said he could not understand why, if “corporations have no right to vote,” they should have the right to sway elections. Why indeed.
Citing Justice Samuel Alito’s reaction to Obama’s criticism, (along with a later ruling) when the justices rejected a free-speech challenge from humanitarian aid groups to a law that bars support to terrorist organizations, Stevens said, “The fact that the proposed speech would indirectly benefit a terrorist organization provided a sufficient basis for denying it First Amendment protection.”
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
One of the most convincing aspects of his argument was found in a discussion of televised campaign debates. He reminded the audience that during televised debates moderators try to allocate equal time between candidates. He said neither candidates nor viewers would like it if there were an auction giving the most time to the highest bidder.
“Yet that is essentially what happens during actual campaigns in which rules equalizing campaign expenditures are forbidden,” he said.
It is no secret that campaigns, voting rights and the overall character of participatory democracy have lived a troubled life in the United States. From the foundational moments of our great nation onward, we have struggled with the proper boundaries of democracy. It has been a long journey from that point when only white men were permitted to cast their ballots. Only after the Civil War did the United States specifically say who had the right to vote. The 15th Amendment was ratified in 1870 giving former slaves the right to vote. The 15th Amendment also gave Congress the power to enforce this legislation. It was the first time Congress was given authority to mandate election laws.
A half century would pass before women were also given the right to vote with the 1920 passage of the 19th Amendment. The Indian Citizenship Act of 1924 gave Native Americans their franchise. In 1956 Utah became the last State to grant that right. In 1964, the 24th Amendment eliminated poll taxes. Poll taxes were used by some states as a way to keep poor African-Americans from voting because they could not afford to pay the poll tax. Finally, in 1971, 18 year-olds were given the right to vote. Before then, people of that age could be conscripted and die for their country in the Armed Forces but couldn’t vote in the nation that compelled their service.
While America’s corporate “citizens” may not be allowed into the voting booth per se, as long as the Citizens United decision stands, the voice of special interest may have the greatest voting block of all.