[EL] Citizens U 5yr anniversary

Wed Jan 21 11:43:51 PST 2015

While we're celebrating Citizens United, here's my piece in USA Today (which any list members staying in hotels wouldve read already). ;-)

http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2015/01/20/citizens-united-misunderstood-five-years-free-speech-anniversary-critics-column/22076597/

Ilya Shapiro

Senior Fellow in Constitutional Studies
Cato Institute
1000 Mass. Ave. NW
Washington, DC 20001
Tel. 202-218-4600<tel:202-218-4600>
Cel. 202-577-1134<tel:202-577-1134>
www.cato.org/people/shapiro.html<http://www.cato.org/people/shapiro.html>
twitter.com/ishapiro<http://twitter.com/ishapiro>

------ Original message------

From: Rick Hasen

Date: Wed, Jan 21, 2015 7:37 PM

To: law-election at UCI.edu;

Subject:[EL] more news 1/21/15

“One by One, Protesters Interrupt Supreme Court Over Citizens United Case”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=69815>
Posted on January 21, 2015 11:35 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=69815> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

NYT reports<http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/22/us/one-by-one-protesters-interrupt-supreme-court-over-citizens-united-case.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=second-column-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news>.

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Posted in campaign finance<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>, Supreme Court<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=29>
Public Citizen Responds to CCP on Super PACs/Citizens United Report<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=69813>
Posted on January 21, 2015 11:30 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=69813> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Here<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/taylor-lincoln/helping-out-a-friend_b_6509300.html?utm_hp_ref=politics>.

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Posted in campaign finance<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>, Supreme Court<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=29>
“The Government’s War on Speech: Citizens United at Five”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=69811>
Posted on January 21, 2015 11:28 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=69811> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Paul Jossey<http://thefederalist.com/2015/01/21/the-governments-war-on-speech-citizens-united-at-five/> at The Federalist.

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Posted in campaign finance<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>, Supreme Court<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=29>
President Obama Issues False Statement on Citizens United<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=69806>
Posted on January 21, 2015 10:35 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=69806> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

President Obama issued this statement <http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2015/01/21/statement-president> on Citizens United’s 5th Anniversary:

Our democracy works best when everyone’s voice is heard, and no one’s voice is drowned out.  But five years ago, a Supreme Court ruling allowed big companies – including foreign corporations – to spend unlimited amounts of money to influence our elections.  The Citizens United decision was wrong, and it has caused real harm to our democracy.  With each new campaign season, this dark money floods our airwaves with more and more political ads that pull our politics into the gutter.  It’s time to reverse this trend.  Rather than bolster the power of lobbyists and special interests, Washington should lift up the voices of ordinary Americans and protect their democratic right to determine the direction of the country that we love.

I’m no fan<http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1620576> of Citizens United. But the part about “foreign corporations” is clearly wrong. The President first made that statement at the State of the Union 5 years ago, with the Justices in attendance. Justice Alito mouthed “not true.”  And it was not true. Citizens United put the foreign money issue to the side. Since then, the Court summarily affirmed the Bluman v. FEC case, upholding the constitutionality of the foreign spending ban (including bans on foreign corporations).  Now it may be that foreign money is getting into our elections, but that’s not because the Supreme Court called it kosher.

(Byron Tau calls the statement “muddled<https://twitter.com/ByronTau/status/557966509587570688>” because CU did not empower lobbyists. That’s more debatable.  The foreign money point is not.)

I’ll have much more on this aspect of the Citizens United controversy, and much more on the role of money in politics, in my campaign finance book in progress.

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Posted in Uncategorized<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>
99 Rise Takes Credit for #SCOTUS Disruptions Related to Citizens United Anniversary<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=69803>
Posted on January 21, 2015 9:54 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=69803> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

See here.<http://www.99rise.org/stand_with_sc7>

Update. Here is an emailed press release:

Washington, DC—Seven activists with the democracy movement 99Rise disrupted the nation’s highest court this morning, issuing a series of statements calling for the justices to overturn their unpopular Citizens United decision, ruled on five years ago today. Each protester stood up and presented a demand to the Court before raising their index finger in the air. The gesture represents “one person, one vote” political equality, a principle which has been undermined by the limitless campaign spending facilitated by the activist Court.

“We have seen the consequences of the free flow of private money rushing into our public political system,” said 99Rise activist Curt Ries who risked arrest to protest the Court’s ruling. “Nearly $4 billion was spent in the 2014 Mid-Term Elections, and almost all of it came from a handful of wealthy individuals and organizations. The kind of influence that money buys fundamentally corrupts our electoral process by giving undue representation to wealthy donors and corporations. That’s not a democracy, it’s a plutocracy.”

Last year 99Rise co-founder Kai Newkirk interrupted the Supreme Court in an unprecedented act of civil disobedience, which was caught on video<http://www.99rise.org/r?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3D2K-8FJ114kU&utm_campaign=cua_dc_action&n=1&e=0f73c13274572041ad4c57d1911387e9232a9d04&utm_source=99rise&utm_medium=email>. The seven people who disrupted the court today were: Alexandra Flores-Quilty, Curt Ries, Margaret Johnson, Mary Zeiser, Andrew Batcher, Katherine Philipson and Irandira Gonzales (who delivered her message to the Court in Spanish). 99Rise members again captured video footage from within the court chamber.

A recent study by Princeton University political scientists confirmed that analysis when it concluded that the will of the people has a “near-zero, statistically-insignificant impact on public policy<http://www.99rise.org/r?u=http%3A%2F%2Fscholar.princeton.edu%2Fsites%2Fdefault%2Ffiles%2Fmgilens%2Ffiles%2Fgilens_and_page_2014_-testing_theories_of_american_politics.doc.pdf&utm_campaign=cua_dc_action&n=2&e=0f73c13274572041ad4c57d1911387e9232a9d04&utm_source=99rise&utm_medium=email>.” Since the current Court has opened our elections to virtually unlimited sums of private money, 99Rise believes that the American people have no other choice but to fight for a Constitutional Amendment that would overturn Citizens United and guarantee political equality for all Americans, regardless of wealth.

99Rise is a grassroots organization waging nonviolent struggle to get money out of politics and reclaim democracy for the 99%. 99Rise organizers are urging the public to stand with the seven activists who were arrested today by signing their online petition at www.99rise.org<http://www.99rise.org/?e=0f73c13274572041ad4c57d1911387e9232a9d04&utm_source=99rise&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=cua_dc_action&n=3>.

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Posted in campaign finance<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>, Supreme Court<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=29>
“View from the Courtroom: Disruption from the gallery on 5th anniversary of Citizens United”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=69801>
Posted on January 21, 2015 9:38 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=69801> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

SCOTUSBlog reports<http://www.scotusblog.com/2015/01/view-from-the-courtroom-disruption-from-the-gallery-on-5th-anniversary-of-citizens-united/>:

As what at first seemed like the lone demonstrator was removed, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. quipped, “Our second order of business this morning …” to laughs from the crowded courtroom.

But before he could finish that thought, a second demonstrators stood and said, “One person, one vote.” It was perhaps a continuation of the Citizens United theme, or a reference to a key phrase from the Court’s voting rights jurisprudence. As the second protestor was being approached by officers, a third and a fourth one stood and uttered similar lines.

The Chief Justice was heard to mutter, “Oh, please.”

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Posted in campaign finance<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>, Supreme Court<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=29>
“Will the Real Citizens United Please Step Forward?”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=69799>
Posted on January 21, 2015 9:28 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=69799> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Benjamin Barr blogs.<http://wyliberty.org/uncategorized/will-the-real-citizens-united-please-step-forward/>

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Posted in campaign finance<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>, Supreme Court<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=29>
“Obama Snubs Calls for Campaign Finance Curbs”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=69797>
Posted on January 21, 2015 8:51 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=69797> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Byron Tau reports <http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2015/01/21/in-speech-obama-snubs-calls-for-campaign-finance-curbs/> for WSJ.

No surprise. President Obama has been terrible on the campaign finance issue from the get-go.

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Posted in campaign finance<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>, Supreme Court<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=29>
“The Supreme Court’s Billion Dollar Mistake”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=69795>
Posted on January 21, 2015 8:50 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=69795> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

David Cole<http://www.nybooks.com/blogs/nyrblog/2015/jan/19/citizen-united-billion-dollar-mistake/> in the NYRB on CU at 5.

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Posted in campaign finance<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>, Supreme Court<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=29>
“Five Years Later, Citizens United Wreaks Havoc on Our Democracy”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=69793>
Posted on January 21, 2015 8:49 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=69793> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Fred Wertheimer<https://www.acslaw.org/acsblog/five-years-later-citizens-united-wreaks-havoc-on-our-democracy> at the ACS Blog.

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Posted in campaign finance<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>, Supreme Court<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=29>
“Will the Roberts Court Strike Down Another Campaign Finance Law?”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=69791>
Posted on January 21, 2015 8:48 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=69791> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Jeff Shesol<http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/will-roberts-court-strike-another-campaign-finance-law> in The New Yorker. I’m afraid I don’t see as much of a connection between Williams Yulee and the Citizens United line of cases.

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Posted in campaign finance<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>, campaigns<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59>, judicial elections<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=19>, Supreme Court<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=29>
Mark Joseph Stern Slate Dispatch on Williams-Yulee<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=69789>
Posted on January 21, 2015 8:47 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=69789> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Here.<http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/supreme_court_dispatches/2015/01/williams_yulee_v_florida_bar_the_supreme_court_ponders_judicial_elections.html?wpsrc=fol_tw>

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Posted in campaign finance<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>, campaigns<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59>, judicial elections<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=19>, Supreme Court<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=29>
Save the Date: July 13 @UCILAW #SCOTUS Term in Review Event<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=69787>
Posted on January 21, 2015 7:04 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=69787> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Wow, what a line up this year: Linda Greenhouse,<http://www.law.yale.edu/faculty/LGreenhouse.htm> Judge Jeff Sutton<http://law.vanderbilt.edu/bio/jeffrey-sutton>, Kannon Shanmugam<http://www.wc.com/kshanmugam>, and UCI Law’s Erwin Chemerinsky<http://www.law.uci.edu/faculty/full-time/chemerinsky/> and L. Song Richardson<http://www.law.uci.edu/faculty/full-time/richardson/>.  I’ll be moderating again.  The event will be webcast. Details to come.

Judge Sutton is the author of the same sex marriage decision<http://www.ca6.uscourts.gov/opinions.pdf/14a0275p-06.pdf>s the Supreme Court has agreed to hear<http://www.scotusblog.com/2015/01/court-will-rule-on-same-sex-marriage/>.

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Posted in Supreme Court<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=29>
“FAN 44 (First Amendment News) Citizens United: it was 5 years ago today — 13 First Amendment lawyers & scholars offer differing views”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=69785>
Posted on January 21, 2015 6:47 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=69785> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Ron Collins blogs.<http://concurringopinions.com/archives/2015/01/fan-44-first-amendment-news-citizens-united-it-was-5-years-ago-today-13-first-amendment-lawyers-scholars-offer-differing-views.html>

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Posted in campaign finance<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>, Supreme Court<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=29>

--
Rick Hasen
Chancellor's Professor of Law and Political Science
UC Irvine School of Law
401 E. Peltason Dr., Suite 1000
Irvine, CA 92697-8000
949.824.3072 - office
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rhasen at law.uci.edu
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