Tag Archives: Citizens United
The Purchased Primary: Did Citizens United Work?
I think I speak for all Democrats when I say, I’m going to miss Rick Santorum. (Though odds are he’ll be back.) For all of John Stewart’s mockery, Rick really was an improbable candidate — as is Newt Gingrich, still. So improbable in fact, that… Well, how the Hell did it happen, anyways? The answer seems to be money. […]
Make This Election About the Court
With last week’s arguments safely behind us, President Obama has taken the first steps towards spinning the case, saying: Ultimately, I’m confident that the Supreme Court will not take what would be an unprecedented, extraordinary step of overturning a law what was a strong majority of a Democratically elected Congress. I’d just remind conservative commentators […]
In Praise of Professional Politicians
One of the Tea Party articles of faith holds that all politicians, but at least legislators, should hold their positions only as part time jobs, meet as few times as possible, and otherwise live normal lives, and hold normal jobs, so they understand the pressures of ordinary Americans and avoid falling prey to “Washington” sensibilities. […]
A Local’s Impression of the Wall Street “Occupation”
As some of you may know, I live on (and so have ostensibly been “occupying”) Wall Street for the past two years or so. Some thoughts, then, from the front lines. For those who live or work on Wall Street — a group increasingly composed of the former as opposed to the latter — the […]
Plouffe’s Way Forward on “Citizens United”
Apologies for the very late post. Let’s set aside the legal questions raised by Citizens United v. Federal Elections Commission, last month’s Supreme Court ruling that permits corporations to spend for political advertising out of their general treasury, on the theory that such expenses somehow qualify as an analogue to personal speech. Whatever we think […]
By Way of Reminder: Justice Alito
The man who yesterday became a Joe Wilson for “the least dangerous branch” – Is the hyper-conservative Third Circuit judge against whom, specifically, Justice O’Connor drafted her historic “surprise” opinion in Planned Parenthood v. Casey, 505 U.S. 833 (1992) (h/t Jeff Toobin) and who, thanks to President Bush, would eventually take her seat on the […]
Don’t Let Kennedy Be Kennedy
My opinion of Justice Kennedy is, by this point, a matter of public record. In short, his flair for the dramatic, middle-of-the-road and substantially unresolved politics, and sudden power combine to create a jurisprudence wholly bereft of principles, no matter what his apologists say, and a worrying tendency to depart from established law precisely when […]
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