DISCLOSE Act Can Stem Dark Money Flood

The Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law strongly supports the DISCLOSE Act, introduced today by Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.). The legislation will ensure voters receive information about the identity of donors who spend their money on campaign advertisements.  Lawrence Norden, Deputy Director of the Democracy Program at the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law, released the following statement:

“It’s time for our disclosure laws to catch up with the new world of enormous secret election spending that has been triggered by the Supreme Court in cases like Citizens United. As the Court has repeatedly noted in those cases, disclosure is a powerful tool to combat the corrupting influence of big money that now dominates our political system. Elections belong to all Americans, and every voter deserves to know who is spending large sums of money to influence their vote.”

Under Chief Justice John Roberts, the U.S. Supreme Court has struck down a series of campaign finance laws, most infamously in Citizens United v. FEC. That ruling led to a flood of secret, ‘independent’ spending in federal elections.  The DISCLOSE Act would close the loopholes that allow those independent groups to avoid concealing the source of their funds to voters. 

For more information or to speak with a Brennan Center expert, contact Naren Daniel at (646)292–8381 or naren.daniel@nyu.edu.

Click here to read more about the Brennan Center’s work on Money in Politics.