NC Bribery Case Debunks Citizens United Logic of Uncorruptability

Federal prosecutors have charged former Republican Congressman Robin Hayes with bribery in a scheme to get favorable treatment for a client by the North Carolina Insurance Commissioner.

Hayes allegedly funnelled $250,000 to a campaign to re-elect Insurance Commissioner Mike Causey in exchange for policy favors including the removal of a Deputy Insurance Commissioner.

Part of the scheme involved setting up an independent expenditure committee, which a majority of Supreme Court members ruled were legally impossible to corrupt public officials in the infamous Citizens United v FEC case.

“The allegations, if proven, would undermine Justice Kennedy’s rationale in Citizens United, where he held that independent expenditures by their very nature cannot be corrupting,” said Brett Kappel, a lawyer who specializes in campaign finance cases.