Washington, DC –
U.S. Senator Benjamin L. Cardin (D-MD), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, today voiced his concerns that the Supreme Court, in its decision Citizens United v. FEC will give corporations an outsized influence on elections and damage our electoral process.
“My view of the
Citizens United decision is clear.
A very activist Supreme Court has tipped the scales of justice further against American voters, which will only exacerbate the great imbalance that currently exists in U.S. campaigns.
By effectively legislating in areas that Congress has set reasonable guidelines, the Supreme Court is swinging the door wide open for special interests and corporate America to have an even greater influence over our political system.
“I am increasingly concerned that this Supreme Court is not inclined to follow precedent, and that it is deciding cases much more broadly than necessary in order to reach a desired policy conclusion.
Justice Stevens is correct in his dissent that ‘e
ssentially, five Justices were unhappy with the limited nature of the case before us, so they changed the case to give themselves an opportunity to change the law…there were principled, narrower paths that a Court that was serious about judicial restraint could have taken.’
“The Court’s action here flies in the face of their proper role of constitutional interpretation, and ignores the role of Congress in weighing competing interests and passing necessary legislation under its Article I authority.
“We don’t really know how much more corporate money this ruling will inject into our political system, but I fear it will increase dramatically, to the detriment of the free and fair nature of our electoral process.”
Senator Cardin’s full statement is available at
