Supreme Court Money Quotes
- The page contains money quotes from various Supreme Court justices and politicians in politics and its influence
- Many of the quotes criticize the Citizens United decision and its role in allowing unlimited political spending
- Justices Ginsburg, Sotomayor, and others express concerns about how money can undermine democracy
- Politicians like Warren, Clinton, and Reid argue that wealthy individuals and corporations have outsized political influence
- The quotes discuss tensions between democracy, wealth concentration, and protecting constitutional rights
- Users can share and search quotes on the topic of money in politics
“The people who own the country ought to govern it” — John Jay
First United States Supreme Court Justice – served from December 10, 1778, to September 28, 1779
“Which shall rule, wealth or man; which shall lead, money or intellect” — Edward Ryan
Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice
“Enterprises … aggregating vast corporate combinations of unexampled capital, boldly marching, not for economic conquests only but for political power” — Edward Ryan
“We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can’t have both” — Louis D. Brandeis
Associate justice on the Supreme Court of the United States from 1916 to 1939
“The power to tax involves the power to destroy” — John Marshall
Fourth Chief Justice of the United States from 1801 until his death in 1835.
“The decisions of the Supreme Court have left the American people a status quo in which one side’s billionaires are pitted against the other side’s billionaires” — Harry Reid
“If there was one decision I would overrule, it would be Citizens United. I think the notion that we have all the democracy that money can buy strays so far from what our democracy is supposed to be” — Ruth Bader Ginsburg
“Members of the legislature, people who have run for office, know the connection between money and influence on what laws get passed” — Ruth Bader Ginsburg
“Look at what’s happening in politics: What’s talking the loudest is money” — Sonia Sotomayor
“We need a Supreme Court who cares more about the right to vote of a person than the right to buy an election of a corporation” — Hillary Clinton
“I will appoint justices … who will protect a woman’s right to choose, rather than billionaires’ right to buy elections” — Hillary Clinton
“Inequality between working Americans and those at the top is starker than ever, the Supreme Court has given the wealthiest Americans even greater power to affect what happens in our democracy” — Hillary Clinton
“Seven years ago, five justices overturned two centuries of jurisprudence to determine that private business corporations enjoy the political free speech rights of the people. Today after hundreds of millions of dollars in dark money have been spent by CEOs in the name of their unwitting shareholders and billionaires act as our new political bosses and cabinet secretaries, we can see what plutocracy looks like” — Jamie Raskin
“Now that the Court has declared money to be speech, I say we replace the current Court with some Ben Franklins, Thomas Jeffersons, George Washingtons, a couple of Susan B. Anthony’s, Roosevelts, Hamiltons, a Sacajawea or two, and an Abe Lincoln to cover Scalia in full” — Elayne Boosler
“If Judge Gorsuch is confirmed, our future will be shaped with dark money” — Jon Tester
“We’ve got to make sure that justices are ruling on behalf of the constitution – not on behalf of their friends or their wallets” — Elizabeth Warren
“We are here to fight back against a supreme court that says, ‘there is no difference between free speech and billions of dollars spent by the privileged few to swing elections and buy off legislators’. We are here to fight back against a supreme court that has overturned a century of established law in an effort to block congress from solving this problem” — Elizabeth Warren
“The fundamental element, that the woman has a right to choose abortion, will probably stand. The controversy right now is about funding. It’s a question of whether abortions will be publicly or privately funded” — Amy coney Barrett
“The supreme court overturned a century of precedent voiding campaign finance restrictions passed by congress and making it far easier for millionaires billionaires and big corporations to flood our elections with massive amounts of money. The supreme court is helping them buy elections” — Elizabeth Warren