| Subject: Re: [EL] 12 Months After: The Effect of Citizens United |
| From: "Smith, Brad" <BSmith@law.capital.edu> |
| Date: 1/19/2011, 9:43 AM |
| To: "election-law@mailman.lls.edu" <election-law@mailman.lls.edu> |
Interesting report. Predictably, I’m not overly impressed. See http://www.campaignfreedom.org/blog/detail/public-citizen-on-citizens-united-political-speech-bad-competition-bad-change-bad.
Nutshell critique:
Criteria #1: It is per se good to limit political speech, suggests Public Citizen. I think that’s a constitutional non-starter. The Court struck down the prohibition because it limited speech.
Criteria #2: No evidence presented.
Criteria #3: Yup, striking down state laws was the point of the suit. It cannot be per se a proof the decision was bad, any more than Reynolds v. Sims was per se bad because it overturned many state redistricting laws.
Criteria 4: there were more competitive races than in the past – an odd criticism.
Post above has more.
Bradley A. Smith
Josiah H. Blackmore II/Shirley M. Nault
Designated Professor of Law
Capital University Law School
303 East Broad Street
Columbus, OH 43215
(614) 236-6317
http://www.law.capital.edu/faculty/bios/bsmith.asp
From: election-law-bounces@mailman.lls.edu [mailto:election-law-bounces@mailman.lls.edu] On Behalf Of Craig Holman
Sent: Wednesday, January 19, 2011 11:18 AM
To: election-law@mailman.lls.edu
Subject: [EL] 12 Months After: The Effect of Citizens United
Colleagues:
Public Citizen has just released a report documenting the aftermath of the Citizens United decision on its one year anniversary --
Excerpted press release and link to the report follows:
A year has passed since the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, and the damage is clear, according to a new Public Citizen report.
The tally:
* Outside groups are making record expenditures (more than four times as much spent in the 2010 midterm election cycle as in the last midterm election cycle in 2006);
* Congressional staffs and lawmakers are intimidated by corporate lobbyists like never before;
* Laws designed to protect the political system from the corrupting influence of money have been rendered dead in 24 states; and
* Power has shifted in dozens of congressional seats in races won with the help of undisclosed outside money.
The 76-page report, “12 Months After: The Effects of Citizens United on Elections and the Integrity of the Legislative Process,” reveals a year’s worth of damage done by the court’s decision is available at: http://www.citizen.org/12-months-after.
Craig Holman, Ph.D.
Government Affairs Lobbyist
Public Citizen
215 Pennsylvania Avenue NE
Washington, D.C. 20003
TEL: (202) 454-5182
CEL: (202) 905-7413
FAX: (202) 547-7392