Clinton: “l’ll appoint Supreme Court justices who recognize that Citizens United is bad for America”

January 22nd, 2016

In a CNN op-ed, Hillary Clinton has once again reiterated her Citizens United litmus test for appointing a Justice to the Supreme Court.

That starts with reversing Citizens United. And that’s where my comprehensive plan to restore common sense to campaign finance begins. As president, I’ll appoint Supreme Court justices who recognize that Citizens United is bad for America. And if necessary, I’ll fight for a constitutional amendment that overturns it.

Her first option is to appoint a Justice who will reverse it. That will take 51 votes in the Senate. (Don’t pretend for a second she will keep the filibuster in place). Option two is to  persuade 2/3 of both Houses of Congress, and 3/4 of the states to ratify an amendment. I think Option 1 is easier. Really, if you can’t persuade 51 Senators, an amendment is a nonstarter. Although, it would be a first for a President to overturn a constitutional decision that went against her.

I will eventually write something about the insanity of Sanders and Clinton openly imposing litmus tests on Justices. After decades of ranting about Roe v. Wade litmus tests, we have devolved to this. The current state of American politics is bewildering on all fronts.

I have previously blogged about how the candidates discuss the Supreme Court, including Marco Rubio (herehereherehere, and here), Jeb Bush (here and here), Rand Paul (here and here), Ted Cruz, Hillary Clinton (here and here), and Bernie Sanders (here and here).

Disclosure: I advise the Rand Paul campaign.