February 19, 2012

Supreme Court Justices Breyer And Ginsburg Want The Court To Reconsider Citizens United

On Friday, the U.S. Supreme Court moved to block a ruling from the Montana Supreme Court that upheld a century-long ban on corporate money in politics. In overruling Montana’s law, the court may be setting itself up to revisit the Citizens United decision.

If the Court decides to hear a full appeal of the Montana case, the Justices will have the chance to weigh in again on their Citizens United decision:

“Montana’s experience, and experience elsewhere since this court’s decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, make it exceedingly difficult to maintain that independent expenditures by corporations ‘do not give rise to corruption or the appearance of corruption.’ […] “A petition for certiorari [from those challenging the Montana court’s decision] will give the court an opportunity to consider whether, in light of the huge sums currently deployed to buy candidates’ allegiance, Citizens United should continue to hold sway.”

View the justices’ call for revisiting the decision below:

[scribd id=82074357 key=key-1dm67ag3xs3u8xz5v83z mode=list]

United Republic’s Josh Silver argues that “if the court takes up Citizens United again, you can be sure the American people won’t sit quietly with their hands folded while the high court deliberates. They’re going to shake the bars of the prison that our democracy has become, and demand a ruling that protects ordinary people, not plutocrats.”