Ron Kind: “with the remaining moments that we have in this special order, I would like to get into a little bit of the teeth, the…”

“with the remaining moments that we have in this special order, I would like to get into a little bit of the teeth, the meat of what the Supreme Court ruled last month in upholding the ability of legislators to impose limitations on the amount of money flowing into the campaigns. It was a 6 to 3 decision, which is a very good, decisive decision. The opinion was written by Justice Souter. I would just like to pull out a few of the quotes that Justice Souter used within his majority opinion. One is getting at the appearance of corruption, in which he wrote, ``The prevention of corruption and the appearance of corruption was found to be a constitutionally sufficient justification''. In that he was referring to Buckley v. Valeo, the 1970 Supreme Court decision. He also went on to write, In speaking of improper influence and opportunities for abuse in addition to quid pro quo arrangements, we recognize the concern, not confined to bribery of public officials, but extending to the broader threat from politicians too compliant with the wishes of large contributors. These were the obvious points behind a recognition that the Congress could constitutionally address the power of money to influence governmental action in ways less blatant and specific than bribery.”