by ordering reargument on September 9—before the usual start of the Court’s term in October—of the Citizens United case and calling for the parties to submit briefs on the constitutionality of the McCain-Feingold’s ban on corporation-paid political advertising. This suggests that the Court is ready to overturn recent precedents upholding these restrictions—precedents in which former Justice Sandra Day O’Connor voted to uphold the law but which her successor Justice Samuel Alito may take a different view. The thinking is that the Court may rule that the First Amendment—you know, that pesky provision of the Constitution that (as the Court has ruled over the years) protects nude dancing, student armbands and flag burning—actually protects political speech as well.
“Barack Obama could preside over the demise of modern campaign finance,” reads the breathless headline in a story in today’s Politico. The Supreme Court took the rare step on June 30
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