The recent Supreme Court decision Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission essentially overturned 2003 decision McConnell v. Federal Election Commission which put a limit on campaign funding for elected state judges. Sandra Day O'Connor feels that the recent decision is extremely dangerous to the justice in the American judicial system. With funding basically unlimited, companies or corporations can donate as much as they'd like to certain candidates for election, possibly bringing a bias to the newly elected officials' decisions. Corporations like tobacco companies may attempt to impose their influence on state court decisions that could have major effects. Ms. O'Connor suggested that we do away with state judicial elections and make judges appointed positions in an attempt to eliminate bias.
I agree with Ms. O'Connor; the system of electing judges and allowing exorbitant donations seems to promote a general acceptance of injustice that will only hurt the country in the long run. If anything, the spending should be limited, and I'm not sure why the decision was overturned. Perhaps it was argued that it is the company's constitutional right to support whomever they want to however much they want to, but it still seems like an excellent way to legalize cheating. Sometimes I feel that because of our history, this country gets caught up in everything being fair, and everyones' personal freedom to do as they choose. But the fact of the matter is that people will take advantage of a situation if given the opportunity and that in turn can inflict harm on someone else's rights.
Links:
No comments:
Post a Comment