E.J. Dionne: The Citizens United Catastrophe

[marmar]

from truthdig:



The Citizens United Catastrophe

Posted on Feb 5, 2012
By E.J. Dionne, Jr.


We have seen the world created by the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision, and it doesn’t work. Oh, yes, it works nicely for the wealthiest and most powerful people in the country, especially if they want to shroud their efforts to influence politics behind shell corporations. It just doesn’t happen to work if you think we are a democracy and not a plutocracy.

Two years ago, Citizens United tore down a century’s worth of law aimed at reducing the amount of corruption in our electoral system. It will go down as one of the most naive decisions ever rendered by the court.

The strongest case against judicial activism—against “legislating from the bench,” as former President George W. Bush liked to say—is that judges are not accountable for the new systems they put in place, whether by accident or design.

The Citizens United justices were not required to think through the practical consequences of sweeping aside decades of work by legislators, going back to the passage of the landmark Tillman Act in 1907, who sought to prevent untoward influence-peddling and indirect bribery. ................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/the_citizens_united_catastrophe_20120205/

[Stuart G]

1. k & r Thank you for you, and for sharing this with us.n t

[Dan]

2. Mr. Roberts and company

knew damn well what they were doing. Not naive, and there is no cleans hands in the Robert's court. Mr. Roberts has convinced me, that the life time appointment for the SCOTUS needs to be addressed and maybe just allow an eight to ten year term. This way we can evenually get rid of the morally challenged that ajudicate our laws.

[Ruby the Liberal]

3. And Alito is the face of this.

He of the mumbled "thats not true" at STOU 2011 when the President called them out over this decision.

I really should go out to the YouTubes and find that clip.