Super PACs ushered in a new era of speech freedoms and improved American democracy more than I imagined. And I should know—fifteen years ago, I created the first one.
On March 26, 2010, the District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals decided SpeechNow.org v. Federal Election Commission (FEC), unanimously striking down a provision of the Federal Election Campaign Act that capped individual contributions to independent expenditure-only committees at $5,000.
I'm proud to have been the lead plaintiff in that case. While Citizens United v. FEC is a watershed political speech case in its own right, commentators often incorrectly give it credit—or blame—for Super PACs. The anniversary of SpeechNow seems an appropriate time to set that record straight.
