Whitehouse Statement on Supreme Court Gutting Another Key Anti-Corruption Protection

Captured Court decision in NRSC v. FECeliminated one of few remaining limits on corrupting big money influence in elections

Whitehouse amicus brief urged Court to reconsider Citizens United, which unleashed corrupting dark money into elections based on foundation of false fact-finding

Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Courts Subcommittee, today released the following statement after the far-right majority on the Supreme Court issued a ruling in NRSC v. FEC overruling the Supreme Court's own precedent to strike down one of the few remaining anti-corruption election spending limits:

"Americans rightly despise the poisonous, corrupting dark money that is rotting our democracy. The public hates it so much that Republicans would get laughed out of Congress if they tried to repeal the few remaining guardrails against dark money and special interest influence. So instead, Republicans run to their captured Supreme Court to do the democracy-damaging work for them.

"By blessing this overtly partisan challenge to a commonsense election spending limit, the extremist wing of the Court again delivered the goods, for the GOP billionaires and right-wing special interests who captured it, just as the flotilla of right-wing amici instructed."

In October 2025, Whitehouse filed an amicus curiae - or "friend of the court" - brief urging the Supreme Court to reconsider Citizens United, which unleashed corrupting dark money into elections, based on a foundation of false fact-finding by the Court in that case. In the years since Citizens United, the Supreme Court has struck down other commonsense provisions like the aggregate limits on the amount an individual may contribute (McCutcheon v. FEC) and has invalidated the post-election loan repayment limit (FEC v. Ted Cruz for Senate).

This series of Court rulings has eroded fundamental campaign finance rules and thwarted Congressional efforts to limit corruption in American democracy. The senators' brief highlighted the explosion of political spending by the fossil fuel industry and the derailing of serious bipartisan efforts to combat climate change as a direct consequence of the Court's campaign finance rulings.

Whitehouse has long led the charge to end the scourge of dark money in American politics. The Senator'sDISCLOSE Act would require organizations spending money in elections - including super PACs and 501(c)(4) dark money groups - to promptly disclose donors who give $10,000 or more during an election cycle. In addition to election disclosure requirements, the bill would require groups that spend money on ads supporting or opposing judicial nominees to disclose their donors.