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If Not A Commercial Republic? Political Economy In The United States After Citizens United, David A. Westbrook

David A. Westbrook

In Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission , a majority of the Supreme Court conceived the United States to be an oligarchy and ruled accordingly. What this decision might come to mean for political economy in the United States is explored through three interrelated responses to the decision. In the first, Citizens United is a turning point for constitutional law scholarship, and by extension, for what is expected from our legal system. After Citizens United , legal scholars may abandon the idea that the Court takes legal argument seriously, and that law thereby constrains, as well as expresses, social privilege. …