With regard to Professor Lessig’s argument that Citizens United has eroded public trust in Congress, referenced in the first story of Dan’s post, is anybody aware of any hard data or research that supports that conclusion?  It appears to me that public trust in Congress was low before Citizens United came out and it is low afterwards.  Has anyone actually studied the issue and did they control for such high profile episodes (regardless of what one thinks of them) as the so-called “cornhusker kickback,” the Massa debacle, the passage of significant laws accompanied by declarations by leading legislators that they had never read them, etc., that may have eroded public trust in Congress and that occurred since Citizens United was released?   

 

Regards,

 

Bill