HILLARY CLINTON was railing against Citizens United v Federal Elections Commission, the 2010 Supreme Court case lifting some campaign-finance regulations, even before Bernie Sanders declared he would run on a platform of severing the link between money and politics. The ruling, which permits corporations and unions to spend unlimited money in political campaigns as long as the funds are not routed directly to or coordinated with the candidates’ campaigns, has been a scourge of the left since it was announced. In his 2010 State of the Union address, Barack Obama lambasted the decision for “revers[ing] a century of law” and “open[ing] the floodgates for special interests, including foreign corporations, to spend without limit in our elections”.
When Mr Obama offered this critique in the House chamber, Justice Samuel Alito could not contain himself. Deviating from the justices’ traditional poker-faced gaze, he shook his head and mouthed “that’s not true”. Technically speaking, Mr Alito was correct: the court’s decision left in place strict prohibitions on foreign spending in American elections. The Federal Election...Continue reading
Source: United States http://ift.tt/2aXis5Y
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