The Democratic candidate in the South Dakota Senate race said Wednesday’s Supreme Court decision striking down key campaign contribution limits was the worst decision by the high court since the Dred Scott case in 1857.
“Today’s decision of the United States Supreme Court to strike down any real limit on the purchase of our democracy by big money may be the worst decision made by any Supreme Court since the Dred Scott case reaffirmed slavery in 1857,” Democrat Rick Weiland said in a statement on Wednesday, after the court handed down the decision.
Weiland continued in the fundraising email that the ruling had a was “strikingly similar in the indefensible power they give one group of human beings over another.”
As Weiland wrote, the Dred Scott v. Sandford case was a landmark decision by the Supreme Court in 1857 where the high court found African Americans, both free or slaves, had not standing in federal court since they were not American citizens.
“Today’s decision destroys the free speech rights of every American who cannot contribute hundreds of thousands of dollars to politicians,” Weiland added. “It gives billionaires the unlimited right to completely drown out the voices of ordinary citizens with their billion dollar bullhorns.”
Weiland’s statement is some of the starkest criticism any candidate or politician has given in response to the Supreme Court’s ruling. It came a few hours after the high court handed down its decision in a 5-4 ruling.
