Citizens United: Five Years, A Billion Dollars

Georgetown University law professor David Cole, writing in the New York Times Review of Books, finds the results of the Citizens United decision to be “devastating.” He says that in the five years that have elapsed since the Supreme Court struck down restraints on campaign financing, more than a billion dollars in unrestricted outside money has been funneled into political campaigns. The funding comes from both corporations and wealthy individuals; just 195 people make up about 60 percent of that billion. “This is a game played by, and for, the wealthy,”he writes. On the fifth anniversary of the ruling this week, eight public interest groups, including the Brennan Center for Justice and the Center for Media and Democracy, released reports demonstrating the impact such unchecked expenditures have had on the political landscape.