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Free Speech Vindicated!

I'm still out getting soaked in the El Nino-fueled monsoon here in California (my trip to Napa Valley today takes on a whole different character in a downpour), but I want to flag today's hugely significant Supreme Court ruling in the long-awaited Citizens United case that strikes down large parts of campaign finance regulation.  They overruled one very bad old key precedent, based chiefly on the amicus brief of someone named Hayward (not me--the better-looking one).  From page 48 of the opinion:

When neither party defends the reasoning of a precedent, the principle of adhering to that precedent through stare decisis is diminished. Austin abandoned First Amendment principles, furthermore, by relying on language in some of our precedents that traces back to the Automobile Workers Court's flawed historical account of campaign finance laws, see Brief for Campaign Finance Scholars as Amici Curiae; Hayward, 45 Harv. J. Legis. 421.  (Emphasis added.)

Guess I should buy an extra nice bottle of wine somewhere up the the valley today.

UPDATE:  On the wine front, Mission Accomplished!, as President Bush might say.  One especially spirited benefactor bestowed a bottle of York Creek Vineyards 1971 petite syrah, which I'm going to pair with a very dry-aged steak some time soon.  

But more to the point, the better half appears today in the New York Post on the Citizens United case.
Categories > Courts

Discussions - 5 Comments

SCOTUSblog is all over this case, if anyone is looking for endless commentary. www.scotusblog.com

That's the much better looking one.

A real victory for Real, Heartland Americans. Enjoy your Napa Valley wine (at your home on the California coast or your Beltway home).

I guess the strategy in mind when you recommended "[t]he other thing conservatives can do is attack big business."

https://www.ashbrook.org/publicat/onprin/fall09/hayward.html

was to first anthropomorphize them and give them the rights that people have, and THEN you'll (literally) attack them (very, very gradually, no doubt - stealthily - almost imperceptibly)?? Brilliant - the CEOs won't even see it coming! Right now they're even thanking you, unaware of the pending attacks.

Also, so much for judicial restraint and opposition to activist courts.

If there's one thing that Heartland Americans have been clamoring for is more corporate influence and campaign dollars being funneled into the Beltway, and the long-denied human rights of GlobalCorpUSA. Finally, their prayers have been answered!

Think of it this way, Craig. As a result of this decision, the Sierra Club and NARAL now have the same right to try to influence voters as Fox News has always had.

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