Voters have a right to know which wealthy special interests are spending big money to influence our vote and our government to rig the political system in their favor.
But years of living under the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission (FEC), commonly known as Citizens United, has made it easier than ever for special interests like corporations and billionaires to funnel vast sums of money into our elections.
Often, they do so in secret, through tactics that keep Americans in the dark about who is paying to influence their vote, or while illegally coordinating with candidates’ campaigns yet facing no accountability.
On Jan. 21, 2010, the Court struck down existing limits on corporate independent expenditures — how much money a corporation can directly spend in support of a political campaign — which has since enabled corporations and other outside groups to engage in unlimited amounts of campaign spending.
The Court concluded that unlimited corporate campaign spending would not lead to corruption because it assumed this spending would be fully transparent and “independent” from how campaigns choose to spend their money.
Neither assumption, however, has held up: Citizens United has allowed big money to spend billions of dollars influencing elections and drowning out the voices of everyday Americans.
Just as we did in the 2024 election cycle, Campaign Legal Center (CLC) will work to identify bad actors, urge enforcement when the law is broken and partner with lawmakers to advance legislative solutions that restore transparency and accountability to our elections.
Increased Political Spending by Outside Groups
Super PACs have become a popular funding mechanism that can accept unlimited contributions — including money from corporations and unions — and spend unlimited amounts to influence federal elections.
These groups have become a pathway for wealthy special interests looking to influence elections and garner political influence and access — like Elon Musk, who contributed a quarter of a billion dollars to super PACs running advertising, door knocking and phone banking for President Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign.
Super PACs are legally required to be transparent about where their money comes from by reporting their fundraising and spending to the FEC. But that transparency is frequently undermined because super PACs often report contributions from secretly funded “dark money” groups, which can keep their donors hidden from the public.
Dark money groups spent millions influencing the 2024 election. For instance, Future Forward PAC, a super PAC that supports Democratic candidates, reported a $205 million contribution from an affiliated dark money group. Voters had no idea who spent these millions of dollars trying to influence their vote in the 2024 election, and the true source(s) of this spending will most likely remain unknown.
Illegal Coordination and Straw Donor Schemes
In Citizens United, the Court reaffirmed the importance of laws requiring the disclosure of all contributions. The justices reasoned that prompt disclosure would ensure that voters could see who was paying for corporate-financed election ads, allowing them to “give proper weight to different speakers and messages.”
But wealthy special interests who want to keep their political spending secret use many ways to hide their identities from the public. One common tactic, a “straw donor scheme,” uses a shell company or other intermediary to conceal the true source(s) of political contributions.
In 2024, CLC identified an apparent straw donor, “Save Our Home Planet Action, Inc.” (SOHPA), that was established just days before being used to make over $1.4 million in political contributions — presumably to conceal who was behind these contributions and thus deprive voters of information essential to casting an informed ballot.
Another way that outside groups routinely break the law is by illegally coordinating directly with a candidate’s campaign. CLC Action recently obtained a judgment on behalf of Common Cause Georgia against the FEC for its failure to enforce the law and hold the Georgia Republican Party accountable for its illegally concealed activities in coordination with the nonprofit “True the Vote,” which were intended to influence the 2021 Georgia Senate runoff elections.
Our actions ultimately prompted a settlement agreement between with FEC and the Georgia GOP — a clear win for voters.
A Lack of Accountability From the FEC
Outside groups continue to get away with corrupting our elections as the FEC fails to crack down on candidates and super PACs that work together, and in fact has authorized new ways for them to coordinate with each other.
Recently, a bloc of four FEC commissioners have repeatedly undermined crucial legal limits on election spending, while declining to investigate clear violations of the law — such as blatant coordination between super PACs and federal candidates this year.
Campaign Legal Center issued a report that explains just how the FEC has opened the door for extensive coordination between outside groups and wealthy special interests.
Safeguarding the Future of Free and Fair Elections
The cost of our elections is only poised to grow, introducing more opportunities for corruption along the way. CLC is prepared to defend transparency and accountability by:
- Shedding light on bad actors. Those looking to covertly influence our elections thrive in secrecy. CLC seeks to identify and elevate these cases to showcase the weaknesses of our current system.
- Demanding accountability from the Federal Election Commission. For too long, special interests have gotten away with breaking the law because the FEC has failed to properly hold bad actors accountable.
- Working with lawmakers to advance legislative solutions. Bills like the Stop Illegal Campaign Coordination Act, which prevents super PACs and campaigns from coordinating, and the DISCLOSE Act, which would require all major political contributors to disclose their funds, are powerful tools that can stymie the erosion of our campaign finance laws.
For voters to make their voices heard in our democracy, we need real transparency about who is spending big money on elections so that politicians can no longer receive unlimited secret money from wealthy special interests to support their campaigns.