Schumer and Specter Push for Overturn of Buckley v. Valeo

As I was sifting through the news from this week, I found this article on the website of the New York Times. The article reports on the efforts of Senators Schumer and Specter to challenge the Supreme Court's ruling in Buckley v. Valeo (1976). In Buckley v. Valeo, the Court ruled that giving money to influence elections is a constitutionally protected form of free speech. Additionally, the case effectively banned restrictions on candidates giving to their own campaigns, allowing candidates like Ross Perot and Steve Forbes to fund their own bids for the presidency. To digress, ABC News reported this week that Mitt Romney has surpassed Steve Forbes in donations to his own campaign; in class, we witnessed the effects of this money when we saw the video of the Ron Paul supporter criticizing Romney's excessive use of buses in the Iowa straw poll. Schumer and Specter have joined the opposition to current campaign finance laws which, they argue, allow for large donors to drown out the political voices of "average" Americans. The effort to challenge Buckley v. Valeo, however, seems to be ill fated given that a similar attempt failed in the Senate in 2001. We find ourselves, however, in another election year in which the frontrunners for party nominations have all declined federal funds. Perhaps this time around, Schumer and Specter will find a more responsive public.