The Supreme Court Gets Ready to Legalize Corruption
Citizens United let rich people buy candidates. Now, thanks to a case involving the former Virginia governor Bob McDonnell, the Supreme Court appears poised to allow the purchase of sitting politicians, too.EndFragment
Photograph by Andrew Harnik / AP EndFragment
The Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United marches like a zombie precedent, destroying all in its path. First the case turned the law of campaign finance into a useless corpse. Now it appears the law of political bribery is the next victim. Citizens United let rich people buy candidates; now they may be able to purchase office-holders, too.
That’s the message from the Court’s argument last week in the appeal of Bob McDonnell, the former governor of Virginia. He was convicted, along with his wife, in a scheme that netted the one time First Family of the Commonwealth about a hundred and seventy-seven thousand dollars in loans, vacations, and luxury goods from a Richmond businessman. And yet, while the statements of Justices during oral arguments are not always perfect predictors of how they will vote, there was clearly a great deal of bipartisan sympathy on display for this appalling former public servant.
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