Legal News

Citizens United, Round Three: Sen. Reid Vs. John Roberts

By Nathan Koppel

The battle between the Supreme Court and Democrats in D.C. over the court’s Citizens United ruling is getting feistier by the day.

To recap the scoring so far, Obama during a State of the Union address ripped the court for its decision overturning limits on corporate campaign expenditures

Then, as we blogged yesteday, Chief Justice Roberts on Tuesday called Obama's brushback pitch against Citizens United, which was accompanied by cheering from Democrats, "very troubling."

Now, Harry Reid has entered the ring. Yesterday, at a meeting with liberal bloggers, the Senate Majority Leader took a swing at Roberts.

"Do you think John Roberts knows or cares how people get elected?" Reid said, adding that the justices on the court lack understanding of the practical impact of their decisions.

A spokesman for Reid said the senator backs Obama's push for legislation to more closely regulate corporate campaign spending.

Here's a piece by WSJ's Jess Bravin on the escalating partisan spat over Citizens United.

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs issued a statement Tuesday night, saying Citizens United "opened the floodgates for corporations and special interests to pour money into elections ─ drowning out the voices of average Americans."

On Wednesday, at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, Republican Jeff Sessions said "there has been too much alarmist rhetoric" about the decision's impact.

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on March 11, 2010 (boomark / email).