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Pennsylvanians for Modern Courts (PMC) has joined the Justice at Stake Campaign and 19 other judicial reform groups across the country, in filing an amici curiae (“friends of the court”) brief with the United States Supreme Court in Citizens United v. FEC case on September 9. The case focuses on campaign finance laws regulating corporate spending in elections.

The Citizens United case should be of particular concern to everyone worried that money is polluting the political process.  The Court is being asked to remove restrictions on campaign spending by corporate groups.  Such a decision “could trigger an election spending war in which companies, unions and other groups could tap directly into their treasuries.”

This would remove a major bulwark preventing runaway spending in judicial elections, a system already suffering from the corrupting influence of campaign cash. Said Justice at Stake’s executive director Bert Brandenburg: “The public needs to be confident that our courts are fair and impartial, and not swayed by election cash. No one wants justice to be for sale.”

As the brief argues:

“Special interest spending on judicial elections-by corporations, labor unions, and other groups-poses an unprecedented threat to public trust in the courts and to the rights of litigants. . . Unleashing corporate treasury funds on judicial elections . . .  will distract judges from their most important job: guaranteeing impartial justice to the litigants who come before them.”

PMC is proud to join the Justice at Stake Campaign and our other partners in opposing any steps that would increase the influence of money in the judicial selection process. Our judges need to be concerned with following the law, not the currents of election cashflow.

More information about Citizens United is available on Gavel Grab.