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January 27, 2010

O’Connor slaps Citizens United decision

By CREW Staff

Campaign Finance Reform, News, Supreme Court, Citizens United decision

Speaking yesterday at a Georgetown University Law Center conference, retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor offered a terse criticism of last week's high court ruling in the Citizens United case. The New York Times reports:

Justice Sandra Day O’Connor did not sound happy on Tuesday about the Supreme Court’s big campaign finance decision last week. It repudiated a major part of a ruling Justice O’Connor helped write before her retirement from the court in 2006, and it complicated her recent efforts to do away with judicial elections.

"Gosh," she said, "I step away for a couple of years and there’s no telling what’s going to happen."

... "If you want my legal opinion" about Citizens United, Justice O’Connor said, "you can go read" McConnell.

Of course, the 2003 McConnell decision was essentially overruled by the Citizens United ruling so it speaks volumes for Justice O'Connor to say she sticks by the views expressed in McConnell.