CS Monitor:
That makes the Supreme Court case, to be decided later this spring, a crucial test: Where, exactly, does the nation’s highest court want to set the bar for what is corruption and what is not?
Comments from the… Continue reading
Zephyr Teachout NYT oped:
In its Citizens United ruling, the court gutted campaign finance laws. It acknowledged that American politics faced the threat of gift-givers and donors trying to corrupt the system, but it held that campaign finance laws… Continue reading
Marcia Coyle for NLJ:
Chief Justice John Roberts Jr. on Wednesday singled out an amicus brief, filed by Democratic and Republican former White House counsel, in support of former Virginia Gov. Robert McDonnell. “I think it’s extraordinary that those people… Continue reading
The Supreme Court has posted the transcript of today’s oral argument in the Gov. McDonnell case. Bob Barnes (who is all over this story) says the Justices were “highly skeptical” of McDonnell’s conviction. I agree that a reversal seems likely. … Continue reading
Brendan Fischer:
It is a common refrain that cases like Citizens United allow for “legalized bribery.”
But few argue that the U.S. Supreme Court has literally legalized pay–to-play politics; such descriptions are usually shorthand for the systemic ways that big… Continue reading
Daniel Weiner for HuffPo:
The truth is that McDonnell’s case is not an easy one even for many committed advocates of political reform. One can wholeheartedly reject the suggestion that his actions were nothing more than “ordinary politics” entitled to… Continue reading
Bob Barnes for WaPo:
Along with the state officials and law professors who are happy that the Supreme Court this week is reviewing the corruption conviction of former Virginia governor Robert F. McDonnell, add inmate No. 24775-001 at the federal… Continue reading