Money Talks: Amping Up Political Speech Under the First Amendment

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Money is speech. -Justice Antonin Scalia. Money is property; it is not speech. -Justice John Paul Stevens. Congress shall make no law...abridging the freedom of speech, says the First Amendment, and the Supreme Court has interpreted speech to extend to money spent to influence electoral politics. When coupled with the Court's extension of some personhood rights to corporations, the outcome has been to invalidate many of Congress's attempts (especially since Watergate) to limit political spending by individuals and corporations. The course will first dive into post-Watergate jurisprudence. Then: What circumstances might justify restricting the use of money as political speech under the First Amendment?