Two years ago this month, the U.S. Supreme Court held that corporations have a First Amendment right to spend unlimited funds on campaign advertisements, provided that such spending is not formally “coordinated” with any candidate. Central to this conclusion was the majority’s broad finding — unsupported by any evidence — that so-called “independent expenditures” pose no risk of political corruption. At the time, some lawyers and academics voiced their alarm. Now, the disastrous effects of this assumption are public knowledge, and — from Helena, Mont., to New York City — even the unusual suspects are starting to rebel.
The logic of Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission quickly led to the creation of Super PACs, mutant political groups that can collect and spend unlimited amounts on electioneering, limited only by impotent rules that supposedly prevent them from directly strategizing with candidates (thus, maintaining a legal status of independence). Unrestricted spending facilitated widespread abuse of disclosure rules, allowing savvy political actors to legally launder money through impenetrable nonprofits and avoid public scrutiny. As a result, outside groups spent more than $300 million to influence the 2010 election, and the source of roughly half of that money will never be revealed.
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