Tuesday, October 24, 2017

The not-at-all-subtle partisanship of Chief Justice Roberts

https://thinkprogress.org/the-not-at-all-subtle-partisanship-of-chief-justice-roberts-a17ebecc3180/
"it is somewhat odd that he has suddenly grown fearful that the Court’s reputation might suffer if it strikes down election laws that benefit one party over the other. Here is a short list of cases where Chief Justice Roberts has voted to strike down such a law. Citizens United v. FEC: The Court’s Citizens United decision, which Roberts joined, permitted unlimited corporate spending on elections, so long as that money was not given to ostensibly independent groups and not to candidates. Citizens United had two effects — it massively increased the amount of outside spending on elections, and it gave Republicans a significant money advantage over Democrats. Shelby County v. Holder: Shelby County, which Roberts authored, struck down a key provision of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which prevents race discrimination in elections. This decision benefited the Republican Party, as voters of color overwhelmingly prefer Democratic candidates. Davis v. FEC, Arizona Free Enterprise Club v. Bennett, and McCutcheon v. FEC: All three of these decisions, which Roberts joined, advantaged wealthy candidates and donors over the less fortunate. Davis struck down the so-called “Millionaire’s Amendment” which allowed the opponents of self-financed candidates to raise additional money in order to compete against their opponent’s wealth. Arizona Free Enterprise Club struck down a law enabling publicly financed candidates to compete with candidates who raise significantly more money in private donations. McCutcheon struck down limits on donations to parties and candidates. All three decisions benefit Republicans, because wealthy individuals who are capable of making substantial political donations are much more likely to prefer Republicans to Democrats. In 2016, for example, exit polls found that 57 percent of individuals earning $250,000 a year or more voted for a Republican congressional candidate, while only 41 percent voted for a Democrat."