Why Citizens United Is Destroying American Democracy and How We Can Fight Back

How a Supreme Court ruling turned our democracy into an auction block for billionaires and corporate interests

Yes, there’s a limit on how much you can personally donate to a candidate — $3,500 per election. But here’s the part they don’t tell you: Citizens United cracked the system wide open. Now, billionaires and corporations can spend unlimited money through Super PACs — as long as it’s not technically coordinated with the candidate. That means the average person plays by one set of rules, and the mega-rich play by none. It’s legal. It’s rigged. And if we don’t start calling it out, nothing changes.

Imagine walking into a voting booth and realizing that your ballot has as much power as a nickel drop in the ocean. In 2025, with Trump in the White House and billionaires laughing all the way to the Oval Office and Congress, that feeling is reality.

Citizens United is a 2010 Supreme Court decision that says corporations, unions, and wealthy individuals can spend unlimited money on political ads and campaigns because spending money to influence elections is considered a form of free speech under the First Amendment. It changed everything, and not in a good way.

This Supreme Court ruling blew the doors off campaign finance laws and let big corporations, mega-donors, and secret trusts pour millions into our elections. The result? Ordinary voters have been drowned out by a flood of dark money that decides who wins and what laws get passed.

Citizens United wasn’t about “free speech” for everyday people, it was a corporate takeover. Democracy is under siege and our government serves whoever writes the biggest checks instead of the rest of us.

The Citizens United Corporate Coup

Citizens United was pitched as a victory for our First Amendment rights. The Supreme Court majority said, basically, that companies and unions have the same speech rights as people, so spending money to run political ads is protected free speech. But here’s the kicker: now, a multi-millionaire has a much louder voice than any of us.

The justices assumed that letting more voices into the debate would help the marketplace of ideas – they thought voters could see through endless ads. Unfortunately, they forgot one big fact: corporations and wealthy donors don’t get tired or run out of cash. They can keep talking over the rest of us forever.

Citizens United knocked down limits that were in place to keep elections fair. The original intent of campaign finance laws was to prevent exactly this kind of tipping of the scales. Congress and earlier Supreme Courts recognized that unlimited spending by wealthy insiders would let them pick the politicians, not the other way around. But Citizens United threw that concern out the window. It opened the floodgates:

- Unlimited Spending: Corporations, unions and wealthy individuals can dump unlimited sums into independent campaign ads and political messages.

- Super PAC Explosion: Almost overnight, Super PACs sprouted up. These are special groups that can raise and spend as much money as they want supporting or opposing candidates, as long as they don’t coordinate directly with a campaign. That loophole basically means your elections can be bought, indirectly.

- Dark Money: Because groups like nonprofits aren’t required to tell us their donors, millions flow anonymously into politics. Billionaires and corporations hide behind these groups, shaping elections from the shadows.

Each of these means that normal people and grassroots movements can’t compete. When I say corporate manipulation, here’s what I mean: a handful of ultra-rich backroom players now dictate our election results, legislative agendas, and even judicial picks, all without voters having any real say.

How Super PACs and Dark Money Drown Out Voters

After Citizens United, the spending skyrocketed. Imagine elections where every TV break, every webpage, and even social media feeds are saturated with megaphone-powered ads bought by faceless groups. That’s what happened. In practical terms, here’s the playbook our democracy is up against now:

- Super PACs: These entities collect endless cash from the 1% and spend it on slick ads. They’ll pile millions behind a candidate who promises tax cuts for the rich or deregulation of their industries. For the average voter, these ads feel unavoidable – like living in a town where one bully bullhorn-blasts everyone into silence.

- Dark Money: This is the scary part: imagine someone decides who wins an election, but you’ll never know who it is. Dark money groups pour cash into elections on everything from local school board races to presidential campaigns, yet they hide their donors. We’re talking about shady funds from shell companies or foreign interests (yes, even foreign) influencing our leadership, and the Citizen United ruling has helped make that loophole larger.

- Special Interest Domination: With unlimited funding, special interests buy influence over laws and policies. Want cleaner air? Tough luck if big oil funds the next campaign. Affordable healthcare? Not if health insurance giants push back with ads. Every bill that would help people feels like it has to fight through a barrier of commercials telling us it’s bad for the economy, even if it’s good for us.

The everyday result is that when Congress or state legislatures hear the voices of the fat wallets of donors, not the tired voices of ordinary parents or students. Instead of town halls where you can talk to your rep, candidates end up dialing for dollars, courting corporate check-writers. Democracy should be “government of the people,” but Citizens United turned it into “government of the people with the most money.”

The Court’s Dangerous Assumptions

Let’s talk about what the Supreme Court got wrong. The Citizens United majority believed that more speech is always better, that letting corporations pour cash into politics somehow informs voters and strengthens debate. That assumption turned out to be a disaster.

First, it ignored that a billionaire’s 30-second commercial can drown out a mom discussing healthcare at her kitchen table. Second, the Court promised transparency, that campaigns would still disclose sources of ads, but corporate money found dark corners to hide in. In reality, Citizens United assumed corporations would act just like citizens. But corporations aren’t citizens: they don’t cast votes, pay taxes in the same way, or live in our communities. So giving them unlimited political power shattered the balance.

Justice Stevens’ dissent back in 2010 said it best: the First Amendment was meant to prevent censorship by the government, not to give an express elevator to the rich and powerful. The majority’s faith in a fair “marketplace of ideas” was naïve. What actually happened is that a few rich people now have a monopoly on that marketplace, leaving the rest of us shouting over each other to get a word in. We’re left wondering: how did we end up with laws and debates that benefit the top of the pyramid, while we scrabble for scraps?

Trump’s America: Business as Usual – For the Billionaires

Fast forward to today, and the collision of Citizens United with the Trump presidency is painfully clear. President Trump campaigned as an outsider fighting the elite, but his administration has actually run deep into the arms of corporate interests.

Citizens United helped fill his campaign coffers and his party’s funds with cash from wealthy friends. Once elected, his big donors got what they wanted: massive tax cuts, relaxed regulations, and cozy positions in power. The policies they paid for have shrunk our national unity and global standing.

For example, when wealthy fossil fuel backers fund climate-denial campaigns, America’s voice on climate change becomes muddled or even silenced on the world stage. Trade and foreign policy get sold to highest bidders, and our standing in global cooperation drops because other countries see our laws being written in secret money deals.

At home, too many everyday people feel left out and lied to. Instead of seeing Washington solve problems, we see scandals and conflicts driven by interests that ordinary folks never see. It’s as if Trump’s rhetoric about draining the swamp got twisted into draining the rights of regular voters, leaving the swamp creatures swimming freely in money they pour into elections.

Meanwhile, our economy suffers too. Remember that big corporate tax cut? It was sold as a boon for “trickling down” to the rest of us, but in practice it mostly filled stock buybacks and executive bonuses. Real wages barely budged, and healthcare remains out of reach for many, yet insurance companies and drug companies made record profits.

The average American wonders why they still have to tighten their belts, vote after vote. That frustration fractures our unity and makes blame-game politics all too easy. Citizens United turned our elections into auctions, and now those with money literally pick the winners who set policies on everything from jobs to war.

Fighting Back: Three Ways to Overturn Citizens United

Enough. Our generation is done sitting on the sidelines. Citizens United is a big problem, but it’s not impossible to fix. Here are three ways we can turn the tide:

1. Elect a New Supreme Court (Judicial Overruling). The Supreme Court didn’t have to rule this way forever. In fact, the plan in some circles is to wait for Citizens United to be overturned by a future Court that understands real democracy. We can help that happen. When we vote in presidential and Senate elections, we can support candidates who promise to appoint judges who see that the Constitution was written for people, not for corporations. A single future case could explicitly say “no, corporations are not people and unlimited money is not speech.” It’s the fastest fix on paper – but first we have to elect the people who make it possible.

2. Pass a Constitutional Amendment. If the Court refuses to see the damage, then we, the people, must rewrite the rules ourselves. A constitutional amendment could declare that only natural persons have constitutional rights, and money is not the same as speech. This idea, sometimes called the “We the People Amendment,” has even bipartisan support in Congress because Americans of all stripes hate money-dominated politics. It’s a heavy lift (it takes two-thirds of Congress and three-fourths of states), but remember: a hundred years ago people thought women voting would never happen. A simple, clear amendment can finally lock in that democracy means one person one vote, not one dollar one vote.

3. Pass Real Laws in Congress and State Capitols. We shouldn’t just rely on courts and amendments. We can also demand ordinary laws that make running rigged elections harder. Congress (and state legislatures) can ban the worst abuses even without touching the Constitution:

- Full Transparency: Force every group spending money on elections to disclose their donors. No more secret backers. If people see that that fancy ad is paid for by Big Oil or Wall Street, the ad loses its magic. Some states already require this for ballot initiatives – we need it everywhere, for all elections.

- Public Financing & Small Donor Support: We can set up systems where a small donation is matched or a little public money boosts candidates without big donors. If I donate $50 to a grassroots candidate, let it become $500 or $1000 so we can compete with deep-pocket interests. Cities like New York have had small-donor matching for years, proving this is possible.

- Stronger Election Laws: Congress can re-establish the rules that Citizens United broke. For example, they could try to repeal or revise broken sections of old campaign finance laws (like McCain-Feingold) to limit corporate and union spending again. They could also toughen laws around coordination and prevent foreign entities from sneaking money into our politics. If the FEC (Federal Election Commission) is too weak, we need to fund it better or replace it so it can enforce these laws.

- State Initiatives and Local Action: State and city voters can pass their own democracy reform measures. We see this already with small states leading on clean election laws, dark money bans, and lobbying limits. When officials see states’ rights are on the line, even Congress might listen.

In short, this is about building momentum: judges, amendments, and daylight on money. Each of these is a piece of armor we can put on to fight back against corporate money-power.

Our Call to Action: For Our Kids and Grandkids

This fight isn’t someone else’s problem, it’s ours. Think about why we went to the ballot box in the first place. We voted because we believed our future mattered. We believed in doctors, firefighters, teachers, and neighbors having a say, not just the CEOs of Fortune 500 companies. If we allow Citizens United’s legacy to keep us in the dust, we’ll have to explain to our kids that we did nothing to stop billionaires from running their country. That’s not the story we want for them.

Everyday Americans need to do three simple things right now: Talk. Organize. Vote. Talk about this with your friends, family, and neighbors. (Yes, even that cranky uncle at Thanksgiving.) Tell them that elections aren’t supposed to be auctions. Organize locally: support campaign finance reform groups, attend town halls, write op-eds, or join marches. When people see communities rising up together, it sends a message no amount of dark money can cover up. And most importantly, vote with this issue in mind – back the candidate who promises to fight big money and stay true to people.

What can you do today?

- Write or call your representatives and demand they fight for clean elections. Make your voice loud: say you won’t re-elect anyone who won’t touch Citizens United. Here are a few ways to do this.

- Donate or volunteer for candidates who reject big checks, not free ones from megadonors. Show them that people power can match power of money.

- Spread the word online and offline about how money is taking over our politics. Inform others so they aren’t fooled by misleading ads.

This matters for our jobs, our schools, our health care, even the air our kids will breathe. If democracy fails now, it’s our children and grandchildren who will pay the highest price. But if we stand together, make some noise, and keep the faith that one person and one vote really can count, we can shake this old system loose.

History shows that change happens when people demand it. Let’s be the people who demand it. Our future, our kids’ future, depends on it. Let’s fight back, loud and clear, before it’s too late.

Mitch Jackson, Esq. | links

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