In a decision expected to have sweeping reprocussions, a sharply divided Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that the government cannot prohibit corporations and labor unions from spending in political campaigns.<\/p>\n
“What a terrible day for American democracy,” U.S. Sen. Chris Dodd said in a statement. “With this 5-4 decision, a deeply divided Supreme Court has essentially given corporations free rein to drown out the voices of the American people, rejecting the sacred democratic principle of ‘one person, one vote.’ By overturning the century-old cornerstone of our campaign finance laws, they have opened the floodgates of direct corporate spending, allowing our political discourse and the legislative process to be further corrupted by huge corporations. I intend to pursue every legislative option – including a constitutional amendment to allow Congress and the states to put appropriate limits on campaign spending – to restore the trust and voice of the American people.”<\/p>\n
U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, a Democrat from the 3rd District, echoed his sentiment. <\/p>\n
“With this ill-advised spate of judicial activism, five Supreme Court justices have struck down the distinction between individuals and corporations in election law and opened the floodgates to a hostile corporate takeover of our democratic process,” DeLauro said in a statement. <\/p>\n
“As Justice Stevens eloquently put it in his dissent from this disastrous decision, “While American democracy is imperfect, few outside the majority of this Court would have thought its flaws included a dearth of corporate money in politics.” The ruling by the majority will unleash a raging torrent of corporate cash into our election system, and threatens to undermine and corrode the very functioning of our republic.<\/p>\n
“In order to counter this blatant overreaching on the Court’s part, it now falls upon us in Congress to stem the tide of special interest influence over our political system. I urge my colleagues to pass the Fair Elections Now Act, which would create a voluntary public financing system for congressional elections. And I hope we can work on other ways to make sure that the voices of the people are always heard more strongly in these halls than the dollars of special interests.”<\/p>\n