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"Branding corruption" [2019] ELECD 2133; in Torres-Spelliscy, Ciara (ed), "Political Brands" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2019) 41

Book Title: Political Brands

Editor(s): Torres-Spelliscy, Ciara

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

Section: Chapter 2

Section Title: Branding corruption

Number of pages: 25

Abstract/Description:

An example of the branding of a legal concept is what the Roberts Supreme Court has done to the meaning of the word “corruption” in both campaign finance and white collar crime cases. Before it got its hands on this word, “corruption” had a very broad meaning. But the Roberts Court has branded “corruption” to be a very thin reed of a word. The basic branding that the Supreme Court has repeated is that “political corruption only means quid pro quo exchanges.” This fences out broader ideas of what a corrupt political system comprises. From Randall v. Sorrell to McCutcheon v. FEC, and from Skilling to McDonnell, the Supreme Court has changed what counts as corruption. And as this chapter explores, politicians accused of criminally abusing their positions of power have been eager to use these cases to argue to lower courts that they should not be punished.