Last night Justice Scalia gave an interview to CNN's Piers Morgan. During the interview he noted that while Citizens United was in his view absolutely properly decided (I agree), there is a clear case for strong public disclosure regulations in terms of letting the public know who is funding speech. This is a noteworthy and important point that most of the media seems to have missed. Groups like that affiliated with Karl Rove have come under fire for using effective loopholes in the law to protect their donors from publicity. I agree with Justice Scalia - there is nothing inherently unconstitutional about preventing advocacy groups from hiding their donor lists. From a political point of view, I believe it is essential that the public are able to understand the agenda that fuels a particular radio, tv or web advert campaign. If you spend money to enter the public domain, you should not be protected from the scrutiny that the effective political system requires. On a side note, Matt Bai's excellent piece in the NYTimes Magazine illustrates how the Democratic scare tactics over the Citizens United case have been shown to be totally overblown and devoid of factual truth. The President should be ashamed of himself for games like this. And this. And this. And this. And this.
On the first Obama link - Notice Schumer leaning over the Supreme Court justices clapping like an ass hole.
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