As you probably know, I did some work with Democracy for America to raise awareness of and build support for an effort by our country’s state attorneys general to file an amicus brief with the Supreme Court in favor of hearing the American Tradition Partnership, Inc. v. Steve Bullock, Attorney General of Montana case. Ultimately, twenty-three attorneys general signed on to the brief (you can thank them here). Personally, I want to thank all of you who stepped up to the plate to lend your hands to the effort. Sadly, however, we were not successful.
In a brief per curiam (unsigned) opinion, the five conservatives on the Court summarily overruled the Montana Supreme Court’s decision to defy Citizens United and refused to receive briefs or hear arguments. Justice Breyer, writing for the minority, issued a terse dissent.
This is tragedy for Montana, but it is also a tragedy for our whole country. The conservatives didn’t even have the intestinal fortitude to sign this death sentence for our democracy. They were completely unmoved by the spectacle of billionaires deciding who would become the Republican nominee or the opinions of nearly half the attorneys general in the country that Citizens United has a corrupting influence on their home state’s politics.
This is utterly shameless and totally destructive. The only way to fix this now is to replace one of the five conservatives on the Court with an Obama nominee.
