| I would love to think that way as well, but it looks like most justices (not just the majority) do agree that there is a free speech issue at play here (without saying "money is speech", however). Reading the majority opinion and Breyer's dissent ("collective good should overrule free speech"), I'm inclined to agree with majority as in the current political climate the alternative is much scarier. It's worth noting, that while Breyer is often considered a liberal, he has also dissented (with similar logic) in favour of upholding a ban on violent videogames: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown_v._Entertainment_Merchant... Additionally, ACLU did file an amicus brief in Citizens United case (although the law in question was much more unambigious restriction of speech) in favour of Citizens United and while they did not do so in this case, there does seem to be an internal split on the matter: http://www.scotusblog.com/2014/03/the-aclu-the-mccutcheon-ca... An analogous situation may be access to abortion: opening an abortion cleaning is not the same as getting an actual abortion, but restricting the clinics severely curtail the options available to women (I can't find the citation now, but this was the logic used in a recent decision in a federal court about an AZ law). Keep in mind that abortion is a non-enumerated right, in theory enumerated rights like free speech are held to even tighter standards. Ezel vs. Chicago (also from a district court, but drawing on SCOTUS precedents) is also similar: while the right to open a shooting range is not equivalent to the right to bear arms, the court ruled that since a Chicago requires range practice in order to receive a firearm license, the city must allow ranges within its limits. So far there isn't a clear scrutiny standard set for the second amendment, but it seems to be converging on "heightened scrutiny" which (again) is less than the strict scrutiny standard applied to the first. Don't get me wrong, I am not happy about money in politics, but I am not willing to jeopardize the right to free speech (or general way individual vs. collective equation is evaluated in regards to constitutional rights) to fight it. |