Wedged up against the Illinois
border on the banks of the Wabash River, Terre Haute, Indiana, has seen
better days. Many factories have closed, and downtown has too many
vacant storefronts. But there are signs of activity: Indiana State
University has grown, the federal prison still provides reliable
jobs—and the ten-lawyer litigation machine that occupies the offices of
attorney James Bopp Jr. at the corner of 6th and Wabash is going full
tilt.
Bopp is best known as
the lawyer behind a case involving a 90-minute film made in 2008
attacking then–presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. Bopp’s suit
ultimately resulted in the landmark 2010 Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission decision,
in which the Supreme Court held that corporate funding of independent
political broadcasts such as the movie and its promotional ads were
legitimate expressions of free speech and couldn’t be limited by
campaign-finance laws. The ruling overturned key restrictions on the use
of corporate and union money in politics.
Bopp
is already well into the next phase of his crusade to topple as many of
the state and federal limits on the role of money in politics as can be
done in one man’s lifetime. READ MORE
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