Digital Technology and Cleaner Politics

[Commentary] This is supposed to be an era of openness and full-on transparency, powered by the Internet. Disclosure is a virtue, made simple through technology. The old, top-down control over communications is over, a relic of predigital life. All true—except when it comes to politics.

It says something about how analog Washington remains that congressmen and presidents of both parties thought they could dictate who could say what about them when they ran for election. This was part of the 2002 Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act, aka McCain-Feingold. The law prohibited corporations—companies, unions or nonprofits—from "electioneering communications" within a month of a primary election or two months of a general election. In invalidating this provision of the law as a violation of free speech, the Supreme Court focused on how technology has made it easier to speak and be heard, making restraints on speech less defensible. The majority opinion in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, decided at the end of last month, deserves close attention for its recognition of how the Internet and other digital advances redefine many issues, including campaign finance. The Supreme Court has not been known as the most digitally sophisticated branch of government. But the political branches of government can learn from the technology lesson the justices have just handed them, including that if they want real campaign-finance reform, disclosure is the way to go.