If there's one decision Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg could overturn from the past decade, it'd be the 2010 case that opened the floodgates to virtually unlimited corporate spending on political campaigns.
"I think our system is being polluted by money," the 81-year-old jurist told students at Georgetown University Law Center, referring to the Citizens United case, adding the situation is made worse because it affects state and local judges who run for election in 39 states.
Ginsburg was one of four justices who dissented against the majority opinion in Citizens United.
Though she said the case would be one she'd like to overturn, Ginsburg told the Georgetown students Wednesday she's optimistic "sensible restrictions" on campaign financing will one day be in place, quoting her late husband, Martin Ginsburg, to elaborate: "The true symbol of the United States is not the eagle, it’s the pendulum
— when it swings too far in one direction, it will swing back,"
The Guardian reports.
The high court is expected to rule in July on a Florida case testing whether states can prohibit judicial candidates from making personal appeals for campaign donations,
The Wall Street Journal reports.
Ginsberg, who's served on the court since 1993, isn't the only high court justice who's been critical of the
Citizens United case.
Retired Justice John Paul Stevens, 94, told
The New York Times last year the decision amounted to the court deciding "the voter is less important than the man who provides money to the candidate."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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