Retired Justice John Paul Stevens Denounces Citizens United Ruling

Hooray for Retired Justice John Paul Stevens, who excoriated the Supreme Court Justices for the abomination that has occurred since the Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission decision over two years ago! Ham on Wry considers him a hero for speaking out May 30 against a case that has unleashed a flurry of political ads funded by organizations with backing from corporations and wealthy supporters.

He predicted that the court will eventually deal with the question of whether the ruling applies to the ability of foreign corporations, potentially even terror groups, to spend freely. Saying that he believes they will limit the ruling's application, he added, "The court must then explain its abandonment of, or at least qualify reliance upon, the proposition that the identity of the speaker is an impermissible basis for regulating campaign speech. It will be necessary to explain why the First Amendment provides greater protection for some nonvoters than that of other nonvoters.

Is this the opinion of a card carrying left-wing liberal, whatever that means? No! Since Gerald Ford appointed John Paul Stevens to the Supreme Court, he would have abandoned his moderate stance in doing so. That fact points to how much the court has changed since Justice Steven joined.  By the time he retired, he was considered liberal in his voting, and the conservatives had moved far to the right.

Citizens United has corrupted the campaign finance laws to the point of absurdity. Any organization can create a name that sounds as though it supports the American Way, Truth, Justice-the whole gamut of positive goals. The ads that they produce are anything but factual, although they use charts and graphs that appear fact-based in order to convince viewers of their points. This law must be overturned in the name of leveling the playing field. The United States Constitution was written for citizens-living, breathing humans-not businesses. Restore sanity to the Supreme Court and demand the law be overturned! As many of us learned in typing class, "Now is the time for all good men (and women) to come to the aid of their country."