Quote · The Bulwark Podcast
David French: The Birthright Citizenship Ruling Should've Been 9-0
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Campaign Finance Ruling: Citizens United Continues
At 29:50 · chapter starts 26:40
The newest ruling, dropping just before recording, gets less analytical polish because of the timing but prompts one of the episode's sharper exchanges on first principles. Miller is skeptical — campaign committees having to pay higher ad rates doesn't feel like a First Amendment violation to him, and he questions whether campaign committees have First Amendment rights at all. French zooms out to first principles: the First Amendment exists precisely to protect political participation, and the labyrinth of campaign finance regulations is really a subsidy for the wealthy, because only well-funded actors can afford the lawyers to navigate it legally. [1] — Tim Miller "The Supreme Court's 6-3 ruling on coordinated party-candidate spending is another brick out of the campaign finance wall. The system is now…" 25:45 He actually likes the idea of more coordination between parties and candidates — the weird prohibition on that coordination had empowered super PACs to a massive and distorting degree. Both agree the whole system is incoherent whack-a-mole: every fix for the last problem creates a new one, and the current structure — unlimited super PAC money alongside a $7,000 candidate limit — makes no sense. Miller jokes he might sue over his own First Amendment rights.
The Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that states may accept mail-in ballots arriving after Election Day if postmarked by Election Day, a Trump loss.
