“The Impact of Citizens United: Corporate Speech in the 2010 Elections” is the topic for a March 4 symposium hosted by The John Marshall Law Review.
The program, from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., will be at the law school, 315 S. Plymouth Ct., Chicago.
Panelists and keynote speaker Thomas E. Mann will delve in to the issues raised by the United States Supreme Court’s 5-4 decision, in Citizens United v. Federal Communications Commission. The court ruled that corporations and unions have the same political speech rights as individuals under the First Amendment. The court found no compelling government interest for prohibiting corporations and unions from using their general treasury funds to make election-related independent expenditures.
Mann, the W. Averell Harriman Chair and Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institute, is a noted congressional scholar and former professor who writes and speaks widely on issues related to campaigns, elections, campaign finance reform, and the effectiveness of Congress. From 1987 through 1999, he was the director of governmental studies at Brookings. He previously was executive director of the American Political Science Association, and served as an expert witness in the constitutional defense of the McCain-Feingold Campaign Finance Reform Act. The symposium will feature a panel discussion. Panelists will include Professor Geoffrey Stone, Edward H. Levi Distinguished Service Professor, at the University of Chicago School of
Law; Ilya Shapiro, senior fellow in Constitutional Studies at the Cato Institute; Monica Youn, director of the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law; David Gans,
director of the Human Rights, Civil Rights and Citizenship Program at The Constitutional Accountability Center; Professor M. Todd Henderson of the University of Chicago School of Law; and Associate Professor Atiba Ellis of the West Virginia University School of Law.
Attorneys can earn 4.5 hours of CLE credit by attending this program. There is a $25 fee for this program, but the fee is waived for John Marshall students and faculty. Registrations are being accepted through March 1 at 312-987-1420.