Judicial Review

Judiciary -governing and selection

Judiciary: Article Review

One of the most controversial decisions in recent memory of the U.S. Supreme Court was that of Citizens United, which effectively declared corporations 'persons' in terms of their ability to fund political campaigns through political action committees (PACs). According to Thomas B. Edsall's article "Cash and carry" for The New York Times, Citizens United and "a series of related cases, especially SpeechNow.org v. Federal Election Commission, which was decided by the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, have not just gutted campaign-finance reform. They have undermined the democratic character of the presidential nomination process by empowering the rich to exert disproportionate control over it" (Edsall 2012). Edsall excoriates the recent Citizens United decision, stating it has fundamentally undermined the democratic process.

In the past, the label of 'activist judges' has usually been wielded by conservatives against...
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