CORRUPTION 101: POWER & MONEYBeginner
Do You Understand What Citizens United Did to Our Democracy?
Test what you know about Citizens United, Super PACs, dark money and corporate personhood, and what it would take to overturn the ruling, so you can see how money shapes elections.
10 questions~15 min70% to pass
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What This Quiz Covers
Test what you know about Citizens United, Super PACs, dark money and corporate personhood, and what it would take to overturn the ruling, so you can see how money shapes elections.
10 questions · Beginner level · ~15 minutes · CORRUPTION 101: POWER & MONEY
Key Facts You'll Learn
- The Supreme Court issued its decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission on January 21, 2010. The ruling came down just months before the 2010 midterm elections and immediately changed the landscape of campaign finance.
- The Court ruled that political spending is a form of speech protected by the First Amendment. Because of this, the government cannot restrict corporations, unions, or other groups from spending money to support or oppose candidates in elections.
- The ruling struck down limits on independent expenditures by corporations and unions. This means they can spend unlimited amounts of money on ads and other communications that support or oppose candidates, as long as they do not coordinate directly with a campaign.
- Super PACs emerged as a direct result of the Citizens United ruling and a related court decision called SpeechNow.org v. FEC.
- Dark money refers to political spending by organizations, particularly certain types of nonprofits like 501(c)(4) groups, that are not legally required to reveal who donated to them.