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Meister: Supreme Court Ruling Puts Private Interests First
January 21, 2010
Jacob Meister, Democrat for U.S. Senate, took aim at conservative members of the Supreme Court and Rehnquist protégé David Hoffman, after the Supreme Court handed down a decision today to lift the limits on political contributions for corporations and labor unions.
“This ruling underscores the power and political bias of this court. And clearly demonstrates how its right-wing agenda favors the elevation of corporate interests over public interests,” Meister said. “This right-wing shift began with William Rehnquist, who committed his life to throwing civil rights under the bus.”
Meister sought to remind voters that when they vote on February 2 they must realize that David Hoffman is a man mentored by William Rehnquist, a Supreme Court Justice that fathered partisanship on the court; a court whose role is to be anything but partisan and remains the final arbiter of the fabric of this democracy.
“This philosophy is the direct result of a political agenda, fostered by Justice William Rehnquist, that puts the interest of few before that of many,” Meister said. “David Hoffman, who was mentored by, and owes the start of his career to Rehnquist, represents the same corrupt political culture that appointed Justices Kennedy, Alito, Thomas and Roberts, and continually seeks to reduce the American people to nothing more than employees of a privatized democracy.”
Meister continued, calling attention to Justice John Paul Stevens’ dissent as read from the bench. Stevens wrote:
In a democratic society, the long-standing consensus on the need to limit corporate campaign spending should outweigh the wooden applications of judge-made rules… the majority has committed a grave error in treating corporate speech the same as human beings.
“If politicians like David Hoffman, who remain beholden to the political establishment that has launched this assault on real democracy, are allowed to continue pushing their agenda, the United States will be nothing more than a fourth estate dictated to by big banks, pharmaceutical giants and corporate fat cats, and reported to by Fox News,” Meister said. “I ask the voters of Illinois to consider who David Hoffman really is, and whether or not his supposed ‘incorruptible’ mentality is real, or yet another elaborate charade designed into silencing the voice of our electorate.”
Meister blasted the decision as a “vicious blow to the integrity of democracy” and the result of a “Supreme Court tethered to corporate interest.”
“The American people have been robbed today and will have to wait until Election Day to realize what they have lost. A true democratic process is not one ruled by corporate fiat. This decision is cause again to rekindle the fire beneath the public financing of campaigns and allow the American electorate to control its own destiny and stop its democracy from being auctioned off to the highest bidder. I will work fervently as a U.S. Senator to bring about its repeal by any means necessary.”
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