Rick Hasen comments in Slate on Justice Ginsburg’s short statement regarding the Supreme Court’s decision to grant a stay in Western Tradition Partnership v. Bullock, the case in which the Montana Supreme Court held that Citizens United was not applicable to Montana, constitutes “speaking truth to power.
Recall Ginsburg’s short statement concurring in the stay was, ”
Montana’s experience, and experience elsewhere since this Court’s decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Comm’n, 558 U. S. ___ (2010), make it exceedingly difficult to maintain that independent expenditures by corporations “do not give rise to corruption or the appearance of corruption.” Id., at ___ (slip op., at 42). A petition for certiorari will give the Court an opportunity to consider whether, in light of the huge sums currently deployed to buy candidates’ allegiance, Citizens United should continue to hold sway. Because lower courts are bound to follow this Court’s decisions until they are withdrawn or modified, however, Rodriguez de Quijas v. Shearson/American Express, Inc., 490 U. S. 477, 484 (1989), I vote to grant the stay.
That’s not speaking truth to power. It’s complacently fostering misinformation and simplistic solutions to the public.