Corruption in America: From Benjamin Franklin's Snuff Box to Citizens United

For two centuries, the Framers' ideas about political corruption flourished in the courts, even in the absence of clear rules governing voters, civil officers, and elected officials. In the 1970s, the U.S. Supreme Court began to narrow the definition of corruption, and the meaning has since changed dramatically. No case makes that clearer than Citizens United.




In 2010, one of the most consequential Court decisions in American political history gave wealthy corporations the right to spend un...