Money, Speech and Chutzpah
Litigation, The Journal of the ABA Section on Litigation Vol. 43, No. 4, pp. 48-53, (Summer 2017)
Posted: 24 Aug 2017
Date Written: August 22, 2017
Abstract
This article examines the background to the key campaign finance cases of the last 45 years, from before Buckley v. Valeo to after Citizens United. It criticizes the “chutzpah” of those who passed and defended campaign finance laws which directly restrict political speech and association and praises the “chutzpah” of those who challenged those laws as antipathetic to First Amendment rights and democracy’s demands. It traces the origins of the first free speech challenges to modern campaign finance laws, the landmark decisions since then and the most recent legal battles. The author recounts his own experiences as an ACLU lawyer working on many of those landmark cases.
Keywords: United States Supreme Court, Robert’s Court, First Amendment, Free Speech, Campaign Finance
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