Research Catalog

Title

Citizens divided : campaign finance reform and the Constitution / Robert C. Post ; with commentary by Pamela S. Karlan, Lawrence Lessig, Frank Michelman, Nadia Urbinati.

Author

Post, Robert, 1947-

Publication

Cambridge, Massachusetts : Harvard University Press, 2014.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

viii, 254 pages; 25 cm

Summary

"The Supreme Court's 5-4 decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, which struck down a federal prohibition on independent corporate campaign expenditures, is one of the most controversial opinions in recent memory. Defenders of the First Amendment greeted the ruling with enthusiasm, while advocates of electoral reform recoiled in disbelief. Robert Post offers a new constitutional theory that seeks to reconcile these sharply divided camps. Post interprets constitutional conflict over campaign finance reform as an argument between those who believe self-government requires democratic participation in the formation of public opinion and those who believe that self-government requires a functioning system of representation. The former emphasize the value of free speech, while the latter emphasize the integrity of the electoral process. Each position has deep roots in American constitutional history. Post argues that both positions aim to nurture self-government, which in contemporary life can flourish only if elections are structured to create public confidence that elected officials are attentive to public opinion. Post spells out the many implications of this simple but profound insight. Critiquing the First Amendment reasoning of the Court in Citizens United, he also shows that the Court did not clearly grasp the constitutional dimensions of corporate speech. Blending history, constitutional law, and political theory, Citizens Divided explains how a Supreme Court case of far-reaching consequence might have been decided differently, in a manner that would have preserved both First Amendment rights and electoral integrity"--Unedited summary from book jacket.

Subjects

• Elections > United States
• Election law > United States
• Constitutional law > United States
• Law reform > United States
• Campaign funds > Law and legislation > United States

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references and index.

Processing Action (note)

• committed to retain

Contents

First lecture : a short history of representation and discursive democracy -- Second lecture : campaign finance reform and the First Amendment -- Commentary : Out posting post / Lawrence Lessig -- Legitimacy, strict scrutiny, and the case against the Supreme Court / Frank Michelman -- Free speech as the citizen's right / Nadia Urbinati -- Citizens deflected : electoral integrity and political reform / Pamela S. Karlan -- Response : Representative democracy / Robert Post.

ISBN

9780674729001 (alk. paper)

LCCN

^^2013040590

OCLC

• 861120167
• SCSB-11759970

Owning Institutions

Harvard Library