Issues in International Political Economy - U.S. Democracy Shortcomings - August 2010 - Number 128

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5 to 4 in January this year that the government could not limit spending by U.S. corporations and labor unions that favored particular candidates in upcoming elections. This reversed many earlier decisions. The reasoning of the majority was that the government could not regulate political speech. The concern of Democrats is that large corporations would generally favor Republican candidates and be able to exert great influence over electoral outcomes because of their deep pockets, while the pockets of labor unions that would favor Democrats are far shallower. These concerns will be tested for the first time in the November elections.