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JUSTICE GINSBURG: Would that include --
MR. OLSON: Now, Justice --
JUSTICE GINSBURG: Would that include today's mega-corporations, where many of the investors may be foreign individuals or entities?
MR. OLSON: The Court in the past has made no distinction based upon the nature of the entity that might own a share of a corporation.
JUSTICE GINSBURG: Own many shares?
MR. OLSON: Pardon?
JUSTICE GINSBURG: Nowadays there are foreign interests, even foreign governments that own not one share but a goodly number of shares.
Citizens United v. Federal Elections Commission, Oral Arguments, pp. 4, 5, Sept. 9, 2009
Justice Ginsburg created a poison pill by putting on notice any Supreme Court majority that overturns the lower court decision: your actions will allow foreign funding for U.S. campaigns. Any foreign entity could simply exercise an existing or newly acquired ownership position in a U.S. corporation to demand services from that corporation's latest wholly owned candidate.
The current bans on direct corporate contributions and contributions from foreign entities would become meaningless. The influence of the "corrosive and distorting effects of immense aggregations of wealth" obtained through the control of puppet politicians would submit all of us to the vicissitudes of balance sheets and the salary and bonus demands of board chairmen all over the world (to an even greater degree than we now experience).
Supremes Green Light Foreign Money in U.S. Elections! How well will that fly with citizens in the current political climate? Does the Supreme Court even care?
Class of 2000 Reunion
Two alumni of the Bush effort to stop the Florida 2000 recount,
freeze in place various voting rights violations, and prevent any real
judicial review of a flawed election are reunited in this case. Chief Justice Roberts
was recognized for his contributions to election chaos as then Florida
Governor Jeb Bush's legal advisor. His contributions were less than
helpful. Ted Olson represented George W. Bush in the Supreme Court
case that stopped the recount. He also served as a key strategist for George W. Bush's Florida 2000 recount efforts.
How coincidental that Chief Justice Roberts reached out to his Bush campaign 2000 alumnus Olson by agreeing to hear a case that surprised many when it was selected for the Supreme Court docket.
How ironic that the case presents the opportunity to bring corporate funding into U.S. politics in a way that would end any pretences of democracy as we know it. History waited just nine years to repeat itself.
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