Congressional Hearings on Citizens United

On March 10, 2010, the Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing entitled '''“We the People? Corporate Spending in American Elections after Citizens United”''' A webcast of the 147 minute hearing can be found on the Senate Judiciary Committee website.

Three Senate Judiciary Committee Members released prepared statements in advance of the hearings (click on the Senator's name for a link to the statement): Senators Patrick Leahy, Russ Feingold, and Benjamin L. Cardin.

Download testimony from witness Jeffrey Rosen here. Mr. Rosen is a professor at The George Washington University Law School in Washington, DC, and is Legal Affairs Editor at The New Republic. On March 2, Mr. Rosen also posted a pointed criticism of Chief Justice Roberts on The New Republic website.

Witness Doug Kendall's testimony can be found here. Mr. Kendall is founder and President of the Constitutional Accountability Center [www.theusconstitution.org] in Washington, DC, and he posted a story on The Huffington Post on March 11, 2010, entitled Citizens United Changed Everything,

Bradley A. Smith was the lone witness defending Citizens United. His testimony can be found here. Mr. Smith is a Professor of Law at Capital University Law School in Columbus, Ohio and is the Chairman of the Center for Competitive Politics [www.campaignfreedom.org] in Alexandria, VA. The CCP posted a post-hearing report highlighting the hearing's contentiousness.

The Center for Competitive Politics is organized as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit educational foundation, and claims less than 1.5% of its donations come from corporate support. The organization points to its supposed lack of corporate support to suggest that it is “independent” or “unbiased;” however, isn't it ironic that the same organization is suggesting that an increase in corporate political expenditures would not affect our politicians’ independence or bias?