Those Notorious Right-Wing Organizations….

Those Notorious Right-Wing Organizations….

By Don Boudreaux

Here's another letter that I sent today to the Los Angeles Times:

Criticizing the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Citizens United, Erwin Chemerinsky asserts that "There is no way to see this other than as the conservative justices using judicial review to advance the traditional conservative ideological agenda" ("Conservatives embrace judicial activism in campaign finance ruling," Jan. 23).

Really?  Then why did both the AFL-CIO and the ACLU submit amicus briefs to the Court in support of the eventual winning outcome?  Do these two organizations now embrace "the traditional conservative ideological agenda"?  Seems unlikely.

The better explanation for this ruling is that the five justices in the majority sincerely believe that government restrictions on corporate campaign spending do, in fact, violate the First amendment – a belief that is neither "conservative" nor "liberal," just commonsensical.

Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux