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Robert Reich on Citizens United: Up There with Dred Scott, Bush v. Gore

Former Labor Secretary Robert Reich joined us Wednesday (hear the full show here) to talk about the growing dangers of inequality in America.

During the discussion, Reich had some striking things to say about the Supreme Court's Citizens United v. Federal Electoral Commission decision in January, which by most accounts has significantly altered the political landscape for the 2010 midterm elections.

The Supreme Court ruled that funding from corporations (and other groups) of political broadcasts cannot be limited under the First Amendment. Hence, the waves of unregulated donations and third-party ads Americans are now seeing. Here's Reich's take on the whole situation:

I think that Citizens United...has to be up there with Dred Scott and Bush v. Gore as the three most shameful Supreme Court decisions. Grotesque misreadings of the Constitution, and also the purpose of the Constitution. It opened the floodgates, and we knew it would, anybody who read that decision. And I commend to anyone that’s listening Justice Stevens’ dissent in that decision, which is the most articulate and reasoned, and really deft, statement of why we need to restrict the money of corporations, and indeed, anyone, into our political process, to preserve the First Amendment rights of the rest of us. That are being drained away. That are being, in a sense, muffled, because there has been so much advertising, so much of it negative, being financed by the very wealthy and big corporations.

This program aired on October 20, 2010. The audio for this program is not available.

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