(Washington, D.C.) – Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), a member of the Senate Rules Committee, questioned election law professors and experts on the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in the case of Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. In that case, the court found that corporations can now spend freely on advertisements for or against federal candidates throughout the election season. Senator Murray has previously denounced the decision as a “step back for democracy.” Senator Murray is supportive of taking legislative steps to strengthen campaign finance laws in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision.
“I want to first say how appalled I am at the Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United and the majority’s inability to understand what most Americans do – that we already have too much corporate influence in American politics,” Murray said at today’s hearing. “The Citizens United decision undid a century of work to ensure that the voices of individual voters are not drowned out by special interests more interested in their own bottom lines than the welfare of American citizens. In my judgment, it will be much harder for grassroots campaigns to take on entrenched corporate power on Wall Street, on health care, or on issues like environmental regulation.”
Listen to Senator Murray’s questions and answers with witnesses at today’s hearing.
Witnesses at today’s hearing of the Senate Rules Committee included:
- U.S. Senator John Kerry (D-MA)
- U.S. Senator Russell Feingold (D-WI)
- Mr. Steve Bullock, Attorney General, State of Montana
- Ms. Allison Hayward, Professor, George Mason University -School of Law
- Mr. Edward B. Foley, Professor of Law, The Ohio State University
- Mr. Steve Hoersting, Center for Competitive Politics
- Mr. Fred Wertheimer, President, Democracy 21
- Ms. Heather Gerken, Professor of Law, Yale Law School
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