If Buckley Fell
Topics: Media and Politics, Election Reform Subtopics: Improving Elections, Campaign Finance Reform
Feb 14, 2000
Authors: E. Joshua Rosenkranz
Publisher(s): Century Foundation Press
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Download PDFIn 1976, the United States Supreme Court handed down its opinion in Buckley v. Valeo, a decision best known for prohibiting spending caps in election campaigns. Today, the troubling fallout of the Buckley decision has engendered a campaign finance system in which candidates spend more time raising money than attending to voter needs; in which monied interests are entitled to drown out everyone else’s voice; and in which the wealthy, or their friends, have a special claim to public office. As a result, the Buckley decision has come under increasingly harsh criticism, with many calling for its overturn. This volume of essays, a project with the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law, examines the possibilities if the Supreme Court were to undo its Buckley decision. Together, the contributors sketch a compelling and coherent vision of a First Amendment that tolerates greater regulation of the flow of money into elections, without sacrificing any of the First Amendment moorings that are so critical to a free society.
