Two-Year Anniversary of SpeechNow.org v. FEC Ruling

Two years ago today, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals issued its ruling in the Speechnow.org v. FEC which allowed for the creation of independent-expenditure only committees, commonly known as Super PACs. Combined with the unlimited corporate expenditures enabled by the Supreme Court’s earlier Citizens United decision, this case brought the campaign finance system to where it is now: more than $80 million spent already this cycle by Super PACs and more than two-thirds of their funding coming from just 46 rich donors.