FACT CHECK: Jon Tester Says Citizens United Is the ‘Worst Decision the Supreme Court Has Ever Made’

Claim: Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission It is “the worst decision the Supreme Court has ever made.“

Who said it? Sen. Jon Tester (D., Mont.), the so-called centrist Democrat who has voted 91 percent of the time with President Joe Biden’s agenda and opposed the confirmation of Justices Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett.

Why it is important: Tester made the extraordinary claim Monday when he introduced the constitutional amendment to reverse the 2010 election. Citizens United He credits his decision with making it possible. destroyed “democracy” Shielding “big money” Corporate donors are exempt from scrutiny

Context: There have been far worse Supreme Court decisions throughout its history. Citizens United It is not even among the top five.

The 1857 case Dred Scott v. SandfordThe Court upheld the legal basis of chattel slavery in the United States. They ruled that an enslaved man from Africa who had traveled to freedom-free territories must be kept in bondage. This case led to widespread support for abolishing slavery and eventually the Civil War.

The Supreme Court’s decision in Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) The racial segregation laws of the “separate but equal” doctrine which led to the shameful era that saw the South adopt Jim Crow laws.

The High Court’s 1927 ruling in Buck v. Bell The forced sterilization was permitted for the mentally infirm “for the protection and health of the state,” Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, the notoriously infamous judge who declared that “three generations of imbeciles are enough.”

In 1944, the Court ruled that Korematsu v. United States that President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s (D.) internment of Japanese Americans during World War II was justified to protect the nation against foreign espionage efforts.

In 1973, the Court made its ruling. Roe v. Wade The Constitution guaranteed a right of abortion. Liberal and conservative legal scholars both have considered it to be flawed. It was responsible for decades of bitter Court decisions on social issues, which were finally overturned last year.

Analysis: Tester knew he was making a broad claim. He noted in a tweet during his press conference that there had been many bad decisions at the Supreme Court. Tiffany Muller (president of End Citizens United) made a more qualified statement Monday, calling the Court’s opinion “one of the worst decisions in modern history.”

Also, Tester is not immune from the temptation to take money from corporate interests. A fact check by the Associated Press found