January 21, 2010: The Citizens United Decision

The Justices of the U.S. Supreme Court in 2010. Top row, left to right:

Sonia Sotomayor, Stephen Breyer, Samuel Alito, Elena Kagan.

Bottom row, left to right: Clarence Thomas, Antonin Scalia,

Chief Justice John Roberts, Anthony Kennedy, Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

January 21, 2010: The Supreme Court of the United States decides the case of Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. It is a decision that lives in infamy.

In 2007, Citizens United (hereafter abbreviated as CU), a conservative non-profit organization, sought to air and advertise a film critical of Senator Hillary Clinton of New York, the former First Lady who was running in the upcoming Primary elections for the Democratic Party's nomination for President.

But doing so would have been a violation of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002, which prohibited any corporation, non-profit organization or labor union from making an "electioneering communication" within 30 days of a Primary, or 60 days of a general election; or making any expenditure advocating the election or the defeat of a candidate, at any time. CU challenged the constitutionality of this law.

By a vote of 5 to 4, the Court ruled that the free speech clause of the 1st Amendment prohibits the government from restricting independent expenditures for political campaigns by corporations, including the aforementioned corporations, non-profit organizations and labor unions, and other associations.

Essentially, 5 Justices ruled that corporations are entitled to the same rights, as spelled out in the Constitution and its Amendments, as individuals -- that "corporations are people." These were the 5 Justices that ruled that way:

* Chief Justice John Roberts, appointed to the Court in 2005 by President George W. Bush

* Justice Antonin Scalia, appointed in 1986 by President Ronald Reagan

* Justice Anthony Kennedy, appointed in 1988 by Reagan

* Justice Clarence Thomas, appointed in 1991 by President George H.W. Bush

* Justice Samuel Alito, appointed in 2005 by the younger Bush

All appointed by Republican Presidents.

And these were the 4 Justices that told the truth, that corporations most certainly are not people, and are not entitled to freedom of speech:

* Justice John Paul Stevens, appointed in 1975 by President Gerald Ford

* Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, appointed in 1993 by President Bill Clinton

* Justice Stephen Breyer, appointed in 1994 by Clinton

* Justice Sonia Sotomayor, appointed in 2009 by President Barack Obama

So that's 3 Justices appointed by Democratic Presidents, and 1 (Stevens) appointed by a Republican President (before Reagan), all saying that corporations are not people.

This decision allowed the richest Americans to avoid campaign finance laws that restricted individual donations to fund campaigns through their corporations, essentially attempting to buy elections. This gave rise to the liberal line, "If you can afford to buy a Senator, you don't need a tax cut."

It was the most damaging Supreme Court decision since Plessy v. Ferguson allowed public facility segregation in 1896. It took 58 years for the Court to overturn that decision. I hope Citizens United v. FEC gets overturned a lot sooner than 2068. But with what Mitch McConnell did starting in 2016, and with who Donald Trump appointed in 2017, '18 and '20, it doesn't look likely.

Of those falsifying five, three are still on the Court as of January 21, 2022: Roberts, Thomas and Alito.

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January 21, 2010 was a Thursday. Baseball was out of season. The NFL was in the middle of its Playoffs. There were 2 games played in the NBA that night:

* The Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Los Angeles Lakers, 93-87 at the Quicken Loans Arena (now the Rocket Arena) in Cleveland. LeBron James scored 37 points for the Cavs, while Kobe Bryant scored 31 for the Lakers.

* And the Denver Nuggets beat the Los Angeles Clippers, 105-85 at the Pepsi Center (now the Ball Arena) in Denver.

The National Hockey League was considerably busier, with 13 games, so 26 of the 30 teams then in the League were in action: 

* The New York Rangers lost to the Philadelphia Flyers, 2-0 at the Wells Fargo Center (now the Xfinity Mobile Arena) in Philadelphia.

* The New York Islanders beat the Florida Panthers, 2-1 in a shootout at the Nassau Coliseum.

* The Columbus Blue Jackets beat the Boston Bruins, 3-2 at the TD Garden in Boston. R.J. Umberger scored the winning goal with 1:16 left in regulation.

* The Ottawa Senators beat the St. Louis Blues, 3-2 at Scotiabank Place (now the Canadian Tire Centre) in Ottawa.

* The Washington Capitals beat the Pittsburgh Penguins, 6-3 at the Mellon Arena (as the Civic Arena was then known) in Pittsburgh.

* The Carolina Hurricanes beat the Atlanta Thrashers, 5-2 at the Philips Arena (now the State Farm Arena) in Atlanta.

* The Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Toronto Maple Leafs, 3-2 at the St. Pete Times Forum (now the Benchmark International Arena) in Tampa.

* The Detroit Red Wings beat the Minnesota Wild, 4-3 in a shootout at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul.

* The Chicago Blackhawks beat the Calgary Flames 3-1 at the Saddledome in Calgary.

* The Phoenix Coyotes beat the Nashville Predators, 4-2 at the Jobing.com Arena (now the Desert Diamond Arena) in the Phoenix suburb of Glendale, Arizona.

* The Los Angeles Kings beat the Buffalo Sabres, 4-3 in a shootout at the Staples Center (now the Crypto.com Arena) in Los Angeles.

* The San Jose Sharks beat the Anaheim Ducks, 3-1 at the HP Pavilion (now the SAP Center) in San Jose.

* The Vancouver Canucks beat the Dallas Stars, 4-3 at Rogers Arena in Vancouver. Trevor Daley scored the winning goal with 3 seconds left in regulation.

* And the New Jersey Devils, the Montreal Canadiens, the Edmonton Oilers and the Colorado Avalanche were not scheduled.