Money, Politics, and the U.S. Constitution
Who gets to decide whether and how to regulate money in our campaigns and elections? For the past 50 years, the Supreme Court has made itself the nation’s apex regulator of money-in-politics. Through its campaign finance decisions, the Court has taken many options off the table from state and federal policymakers. But is this the way things should be, as a matter of constitutional structure? There is a growing movement — which includes state lawmakers from both major political parties — that is calling for a constitutional amendment that would empower Congress and the States to choose whether and how to regulate money-in-politics. In this panel, we explored the text and theory of the proposed amendment through an interactive discussion with both its advocates and skeptics.