Thursday
04Feb2010
Citizens United Poll
by 
Noah Thursday, February 4, 2010 at 09:32AM
Noah Thursday, February 4, 2010 at 09:32AM There has been a lot of talk at the law school recently about the controversial decision Citizens United v. FEC, 558 U.S. __, in which the Supreme Court held the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act in the McCain-Feingold bill an unconstitutional restriction on free speech. This decision broadened the ability of corporations to participate in elections through independent expenditures. The controversy at the President’s State of the Union address only furthered debate on Citizens United. What do you think about this decision?
Reader Comments (5)
I wouldn't have agreed with this decision 10 or 15 years ago, but the truth of the matter is, the playing field is being leveled. Individuals are able to organize and raise money easier than ever before with the internet and social networking.
If the people aren't ready for a fight in a democratic environment, the people don't deserve that democratic environment.
That said, I think this decision further illustrates the need for further corporate accountability through disclosures and increased shareholder rights. Shareholders should know what political causes corporate money is going to, and should be able to easier vote out directors when that money is going to wasteful causes.
This poll has a strong liberal bias and is deeply flawed. None of the answers address the actual basis for the decision.
The correct answer is "Yes - the First Amendment says that Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of speech. McCain Feingold et al., were laws abridging the freedom of speech and, therefore, were unconstitutional."
BCLS Alum - pretty sure the first option covers that.
BCLS Alum,
I suggest you choose option 2 and vote that the BCRA was too restrictive on the right to free speech; such a perspective is supported by your statement.
It is not practical to include the full language of the holding of Citizens United in the text of the poll. Your suggested answer would take up seven lines of text on the poll, dwarfing all of the other answers. The answers must be of similar length to avoid bias. Including the full holding of the case as answer #2 would bias that perspective by making that response longer than all of the others.
Because the perspective that you advocate is not fully articulated in the extent of detail you would prefer does not make the poll biased. Each answer has been constructed so as to be symmetrical to the answer of opposite perspective on the same issue with similar/identical length.
Noah,
I see your point, but I wonder how you can have a valid poll when none of the answer choices address the question. The question you posed was whether Citizens United was correctly decided - to wit, "Was Citizens United decided correctly?" But none of your answer choices actually address question -- the decision, or holding, itself.
The answer choices all tilt toward the way liberal media and liberal scholars have characterized the opinion and suggest something other than what the Court decided. It is a flawed and biased poll.