At bottom, the court’s opinion is thus a rejection of the common sense of the American people, who have recognized a need to prevent corporations from undermining self-government since the founding, and who have fought against the distinctive corrupting potential of corporate electioneering since the days of Theodore Roosevelt. It is a strange time to repudiate that common sense. While American democracy is imperfect, few outside the majority of this court would have thought its flaws included a dearth of corporate money in politics.

John Paul Stevens (1920-2019) American lawyer, US Supreme Court Justice (1975-2010)

Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, 558 U.S. ___ (2010) [Dissenting]