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The one year anniversary of the Supreme Court’s ruling in Citizens United v. FEC was this past Friday. The landmark decision to remove limits on campaign spending by outside groups, including deep-pocketed corporations and unions, was made by a contentious 5-4 vote. The majority opinion equated election spending with freedom of speech. Writing for the minority in a 90-page dissent, Justice John Paul Stevens stated, “The difference between selling a vote and selling access is a matter of degree, not kind. And selling access is not qualitatively different from giving special preference to those who spent money on one’s behalf.” The decision was so controversial President Obama surprised the nation by criticizing it during his 2010 State of Union speech while the Supreme Court Justices sat in the audience. One year later the ruling remains hotly debated. Just last week a serious accusation regarding the ruling cast a shadow on its origins. The Progressive Advocacy group Common Cause requested that the Justice Department investigate a possible conflict of interest regarding Supreme Court Justices Thomas and Scalia in relation to the ruling. Common Cause states, “It appears [ Thomas and Scalia ] have participated in political strategy sessions, perhaps while the [Citizens United] case was pending, with corporate leaders whose political aims were advanced by the decision.” While the outcome of this remains to be seen, the ruling has undeniably changed the electoral landscape. Journalist Andy Kroll, writing for Mother Jones, recently detailed some of what he calls the “legal aftershocks” of Citizens United. These include a pending Supreme Court case that could extend the personal right of privacy, to corporations.

GUEST: Andy Kroll, is a journalist working in Mother Jones’ DC Bureau. He is also an associate editor at TomDispatch.com and his work has appeared at The Wall Street Journal, SportsIllustrated.com, The Detroit News, and Salon.com

Find out more at www.motherjones.com.