Then & Now: Attacks on Campaign Finance Laws

THEN

David Koch wanted to abolish campaign finance protections.

David Koch Said He Wanted To Abolish The Federal Elections Commission And All Limits On Campaign Spending. According to New York Magazine, “Libertarian principles being what they are, such free spending is nothing to be ashamed about. ‘We’d like to abolish the Federal Elections Commission and all limits on campaign spending anyway,’ says Koch.” [New York Magazine, 11/3/80]

NOW

Koch-funded groups want to gut campaign finance protections.

Cato Institute Filed Amicus Brief with Supreme Court In Support of Citizens United Case Around Issues of Political Speech and Activity Around the First Amendment. According to Cato, in the Interest of the Amicus Curiae: The Cato Institute was established in 1977 as a nonpartisan public policy research foundation dedicated to advancing principles of individual liberty, free markets, and limited government. Cato’s Center for Constitutional Studies was established in 1989 to help restore principles of limited constitutional government that are the foundation of liberty. Toward those ends, the Cato Institute publishes books and studies, conducts conferences and forums, publishes the annual Cato Supreme Court Review, and files amicus briefs. This case is of central concern to Cato because it addresses the further collapse of constitutional protections for political speech and activity, which lies at the very heart of the First Amendment. [Supplemental Brief for Amicus Curiae Cato Institute In Support of Appellant, Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, No. 08-205, 7/31/2009]

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