In the Dark

[Commentary] Journalists are big believers in the First Amendment; its legal force undergirds the fearless journalism that democracy requires. But now comes a perversion of that amendment, an effort to turn it against another tool that enables democracy-sustaining journalism: the laws that require political donors to make their names known, and that empower vital reporting on money, power, and influence.

Of course, our right to know who funds our politicians or pays for any given civic megaphone has been battered time and again by lawyers and loopholes. Unprecedented amounts of unprecedentedly opaque money will shape the 2012 elections. Reporters already have their work cut out for them to make this understandable and to show who is trying to gain influence and shape public opinion. Imagine how much harder this job would be if disclosure requirements were found to be an unconstitutional burden on free speech?