April 12, 2010
Dear Friends,
Ron Robinson Foundation President
The Wall Street Journal proclaimed, “Freedom has had its best week in many years [due in part because the Supreme Court] issued a landmark decision supporting free speech by overturning some of Congress’s more intrusive limits on election spending.” The Supreme Court case was Citizens United v. The Federal Elections Commission. I should add that I am a director of Citizens United (CU), and I have followed this fight for free speech since it began several years ago. In many ways, the case began in 2004 when CU sought to publish a film that the Federal Election Commission (FEC) claimed involved political issues. The FEC bureaucrats—who had become the arbiters of Americans’ free speech rights in matters that might touch on campaigns for Federal offices—decided Citizens United had not released a sufficient number of films to advertise freely as a film producer. In the meantime, CU released more than a half dozen films and sold hundreds of thousands of DVDs. In 2008, CU aimed to release a film that took a critical view of former First Lady, Rose Law firm partner, and wildly successful stock speculator, Hillary Clinton. The FEC instantly ruled that CU could not advertise such a film in an election cycle! Two Young America’s Foundation graduates, then serving as CU officers, David Bossie and Michael Boos, had had enough with the arbitrary and restrictive FEC rules. They abided by the FEC dictate, but they filed in Federal Court to challenge the FEC decision. Ultimately, this led to the United States Supreme Court ruling that the FEC had violated Citizens United’s Constitutional rights. The Court rejected arguments advanced by the Obama administration that the government could ban those books, pamphlets, and films that it disapproves of if a corporation produced the materials (which is almost always the case). The Supreme Court struck down the sections of the law known as McCain-Feingold that prohibited corporate participation in election campaigns. Justice Stevens wrote a stinging dissent. He suggested, “There were principled, narrower paths a court that was serious about judicial restraint could have taken.” This became the leftist talking point about the decision: the Court could have found another way to rule in CU’s favor short of striking down restrictions on corporations. What Justice Stevens failed to write, and his big government accomplices are reluctant to acknowledge, is that his beloved Federal Election Commission could have ruled in favor of Citizens United at any step in the process. But, no, the Left tried to seize complete control over our free speech rights. The FEC wanted to allow other “political” films and expenditures to go forward—including the work of film producer Michael Moore or Barack Obama’s own orgy of spending in the 2008 campaign—while banning free speech for conservatives. The FEC rolled the dice to gain unlimited power. Fortunately, the Court, led by Justice Anthony Kennedy and Chief Justice John Roberts, rejected such farreaching claims of the FEC bureaucracy. Why do I highlight this case? The Wall Street Journal was right to note it was one of the greatest victories for freedom. But it wasn’t won because of café philosophers talking about FEC law. Our rights were not protected by just well-honed arguments from Constitutional theorists. No, it was not intellectuals who won the day. Rather, two leaders—who were once some of Young America’s Foundation’s most aggressive activists—accomplished this breakthrough victory! David Bossie and Michael Boos are heroes in the long history of protecting individual rights from government overreaching. I salute their courage. You should, too. The Citizens United episode reminds us we must be aggressive in defending individual rights from an overbearing government. Ideas have consequences…but only when activists are willing to take chances to advance those ideas!
Sincerely,
Ron Robinson President