Once the master planners’ Federalist Society machine started cranking out conservative lawyers, Republican presidents did their part to get them installed on the U.S. Supreme Court. Ronald Reagan had no problem with one of his Federalist Society-affiliated appointments, Antonin Scalia. But he had more trouble filling the next vacancy when Lewis Powell retired in 1987. After his first candidate Robert Bork got borked, and a second nominee’s chances went up in flames thanks to a pot-smoking past, Reagan finally found a more palatable selection in Anthony Kennedy.
Carefully watching this appointment was an Indiana lawyer who’d made it his life’s mission to outlaw abortion and gut campaign finance laws. James Bopp knew that Kennedy had a moderate reputation after siding with liberal justices on social issues, but his rulings on campaign finance cases began to signal that he could be open to helping the master planners further open the floodgates of dark money.
Bopp got a chance to test his theory when the political advocacy group Citizens United planned to release Hillary: The Movie. Knowing that a film criticizing then-presidential candidate Hillary Clinton would likely violate the McCain-Feingold campaign finance law’s restrictions on electioneering, Bopp challenged the constitutionality of the law.
A hidden drama at the Supreme Court began as Chief Justice Roberts proposed a narrow ruling in the Citizens United case, while Justice Kennedy pushed for a far-reaching decision. Behind the scenes, a scathing dissent has since vanished from the record — and the final ruling would live in infamy, reshaping campaign finance law for years to come.
Bopp was about to find out that Kennedy wasn’t just an ally.
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