* Justice Souter once said: “The first lesson, simple as it is, is that whatever court we’re in, whatever we are doing, at the end of our task some human being is going to be affected.” Conservatives would like us to forget this lesson. They’ve distorted our constitutional discourse to make it sound like the Court’s rulings don’t matter to ordinary people, but only to the undeserving riff-raff at the margins of society.
* By defining the terms of constitutional debate such that it doesn’t involve the lives of ordinary people, conservatives have disconnected Americans from their legal system. And that leaves room for lots of shenanigans.
* And, indeed, the Roberts Court has overturned two principles I believe are deeply ingrained in our Constitution, in our legal tradition, and in our American values. First: Judicial restraint. ... Second, and more importantly: They’ve overturned the principle that the law should be a place where ordinary people can turn for relief when wronged by the powerful. ...
* But there’s more than one kind of power. ... And in case after case after case, the Roberts Court has put not just a thumb, but a fist, on the scale in favor of those corporations. ... What conservative legal activists are really interested in is this question: What individual rights are so basic and so important that they should be protected above a corporation’s right to profit? And their preferred answer is: None of them. Zero. ...
* The Roberts Court has systematically dismantled the legal protections that help ordinary people find justice when wronged by the economically powerful. ... But even as it has closed the door on ordinary Americans looking for justice in the legal system, this Court has made it harder for the political system to address these injustices. ...
* Bummed out yet? Well, we’re finally in a good position to fight back. It took the conservative legal movement decades to produce this activist Supreme Court. We’re still in our first decade. But already the American Constitution Society has established itself as a major force in our legal system. And while we often continue to struggle to get our nominees confirmed and our message heard, we have a President who understands that our legal system is broken when it favors the powerful over the powerless, and I know for a fact that I’m not the only Senator ready to take action. So let’s talk about what we can do. Right now, I’m co-sponsoring legislation called the DISCLOSE Act that would force the heads of corporate-sponsored advocacy groups to appear in their ads, require corporations to tell their shareholders what they’re spending political dollars on, prohibit corporations from who receive taxpayer dollars from telling taxpayers how to vote, and keep foreign-controlled corporations out of our elections. ...
* For instance, I’m very concerned about media consolidation. If we care about public debate, then it matters who runs our media companies. The trend is towards vertical integration of the companies who produce the programs Americans rely on for information, and the companies who run the pipes through which Americans receive those programs. Executives at both Comcast and NBC Universal swear that they’re not interested in corporate control of programming. I used to work at NBC; I know better. And I’m very worried about this merger. We should also be very worried about efforts to undermine the free flow of information on the Internet. ... If you control the flow of information, you can control the conversation around important issues. If you can control the conversation, you can change this country. ...
* I’m here tonight because, for the people I represent in Minnesota and for regular working people all over the country, that truth is at the heart of their struggle, too. Their struggle to earn a fair wage at a job that treats them well. Their struggle to live their lives free of corporate intrusions into their privacy. Their struggle to breathe clean air and drink clean water. Their struggle to find justice when they’re wronged. I know how important it is that our legal system support individuals in that struggle. And so do you. But most people don’t. And we have to change that. ...
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