Money talks, high court rules (SF Chronicle editorial)

[struggle4progress]

Justices Strike Down Campaign Finance Laws
Friday, January 22, 2010

Five robed radicals on the Supreme Court have pushed money-infused politics in the wrong direction by overturning a century's worth of campaign spending laws. Voters should prepare for the worst: cash-drenched elections presided over by free-spending corporations ...

... A string of prior laws dating back to the robber-baron era suggested the court would limit its reach.

No such luck. The 5-to-4 case swept away the underlying arguments for many of these laws. The upshot is that corporations and labor unions can spend freely on independent ads targeting or supporting candidates ...

This viewpoint is "a rejection of the common sense of the American people," said Justice John Paul Stevens, who read his angry dissent out loud. Corporations "are not themselves members of 'We the People,' by whom and for whom our Constitution was established" ...

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/01/22/EDIL1BLS5N.DTL