Corruption in America: From Benjamin Franklin’s Snuff Box to Citizens United Reprint Edition

by Zephyr Teachout (Author)

98 customer reviews

ISBN-13: 978-0674659988

ISBN-10: 0674659988

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When Louis XVI gave Ben Franklin a diamond-encrusted snuffbox, the gift troubled Americans: it threatened to corrupt him by clouding his judgment. By contrast, in 2010 the Supreme Court gave corporations the right to spend unlimited money to influence elections. Zephyr Teachout shows that Citizens United was both bad law and bad history.

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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Zephyr Teachout is Associate Professor of Law at Fordham University.

Paperback: 384 pages
Publisher: Harvard University Press; Reprint edition (May 9, 2016)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0674659988
ISBN-13: 978-0674659988
Product Dimensions: 3 x 1 x 5 inches
Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 98 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #30,025 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #22 in Books > Textbooks > Law > Constitutional Law
- #25 in Books > Law > Legal History
- #41 in Books > Law > Constitutional Law > General

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Zippydoodle

NOT FOR EVERYBODY BUT AN EXCELLENT READ FOR SOME

October 11, 2016

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BEWARE that above all this is a legal treatise on the evolution of the law on corruption in the US. Teachout is a law professor. If you are not a lawyer or law student, you may have trouble following Teachout's incisive examination of the details of the reasoning in court opinions on the subject from the 18th century through today and the role of anti-corruption sentiments by the founders of the US government. You will have to know something about the doctrine of stare decisis (court precedent), the evolution of Supreme Court jurisprudence, federalism, and sometimes the substantive law of contracts, real property and criminal law. If, however, you are indeed a lawyer as am I, you will be delighted with her laser like focus on this topic as she tracks it through the history of the American republic, jurisprudence and politics. It is a clear, crisp, and compelling read that will continually astonish you with surprising historical revelations of both the informed tolerance and merely mild "contempt" for corrupt practices in US government culture. Whether or not you agree with her disdain for the Citizens United decision, you will come away with a thorough understanding of how it came about, its significance in the current day, and where it will likely end up.

21 people found this helpful22 people found this helpful

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Mickey Long

Original Thinking on a Well Debated Topic

October 26, 2014

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An original and thoughtful work, well documented with citations to her sources. She traces a core American value treasured by all, or most, of the Founding Fathers. From there, she navigates us into the 1940s to 1970's legal narrowing of corruption, and into this new legal environment of our current Citizen's United era. She discusses other current thinkers, too. Those against Citizen's United will find new and better reasons, based on America's historic foundations, to support their opposition to Citizen's.Those who do not oppose it, find many reasons to reconsider. Both sides, and others interested, would benefit by her analysis. She withholds her fixes and opinions to the last few pages. Before that, however, she teaches by introducing fresh analysis, which provides much nutrition for our thoughts. Lucid writing, not seemingly scholarly -though certainly a work of good scholarship.

36 people found this helpful37 people found this helpful

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Amazon Customer

Do any of us count anymore?

May 29, 2015

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Zephr Teachout reviews the history of the term "corruption" from the days of the drafting of the Constitution to today. She explains why the term is not able to be commonly shared or defined and contrasts it with bribery or other criminal forms of action that modify a public official's duties in some way to address a self interest that may not best serve the "public's good". The presentation is intellectually challenging, yet very readable. It addresses the view that the author holds that the current Supreme Court's interpretation that there must be a quid pro quo evidence in a transactional way is a definition of corruption that is in error based upon historical and case law precedent. More broadly, the question is raised as to whether a democracy can succeed with the influence of a few (corporations or individuals) being perfectly legal.

Anyone wanting to reflect on the current state of legislative gridlock at the national level, and maybe other levels, or the majority losing out to a minority view or group, needs to read this book and brood over it for awhile

What this book addresses affects us all and is worth the read.

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Franklin the Mouse

The Plutocratic Road Is Paved With Corrupt Intentions

March 12, 2018

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The colorful Supreme Court Justice, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., stated, "The life of the law has not been logic; it has been experience... The law embodies the story of a nation's development through many centuries, and it cannot be dealt with as if it contained only the axioms and corollaries of a book of mathematics." Ms. Teachout argues in 'Corruption in America' that the conservative wing of the Supreme Court has lost sight of the Founding Fathers' wanting to minimize corruption in our democracy. They were not foolish enough to believe that it would ever be eliminated, but tried to install laws which would allow democracy to survive and not evolve into a plutocracy. Ms. Teachout explains how the Supreme Court's ruling in Citizens United has accelerated our path towards a government catering only towards the rich.

The author's book is academic in its delivery but avoids burdening the work with unnecessary ostentatious words. However, the book is constructed in a manner where it's important for the reader to carefully follow along with her presentation. The law professor walks you through our country's history of dealing with corruption in public institutions. It focuses on both the federal and state actions. 'Corruption in America' also shows how there is no clear-cut definition of corruption. She posits questions in the cases reviewed that left me stumped as to a resolution. The book covers such issues as who influenced the Founding Fathers' thinking when creating the Constitution, the laws constant struggles in dealing with what defines bribery and extortion, the concerns of the judiciary usurping the legislative role, lobbying, the spoils system, when are campaign contributions corrupt, the conservative's law and economic movement, the commitment to civic virtue, and the moral versus legal perspectives in addressing corruption. Much of what is addressed in the book are not black-and-white issues. The book concludes with suggestions by Ms. Teachout on how to get back on track in preventing our country from devolving into a plutocracy. The two Appendix chapters (Anticorruption Constitutional Provisions, Major Nineteenth- and Twentieth-Century Anticorruption Laws) were also helpful.

'Corruption in America' is not a collection of stories about corruption. Ms. Teachout's work is about challenging the current conservative judges who view the First Amendment as the trump card in the Constitution. Our Founding Fathers were very concerned with corruption because of what they studied from history as well as what was occurring in England. Many Americans foolish believe our democracy is indestructible, that we are incapable of evolving into a society tailored strictly for the rich and elite because of corruption. 'Corruption in America' was published in 2014, before Trump became president. If the GOP 2017 Tax Bill rammed through the Congress and signed by President Foghorn Leghorn because of pressure by their rich contributors, despite an overwhelming objection by the public, is not a clear sign of corruption and plutocracy, then I'm the friggin' Queen of England. Ms. Teachout's book was interesting but somewhat dry in presentation.

2 people found this helpful3 people found this helpful

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Kayak Jeff

A must read for anyone who is concerned about Big Money buying influence.

September 28, 2016

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I have recommended this book to my friends for over a year. One of my Advanced Placement History students saw the book on my desk and did a quick Google search. Since we were speaking about Citizen's United in class it dovetailed into the lesson. One of the books the author refers to is "So Damn Much Money". If you care about the role of lobbyists and their undue influence with their big money, you have to read these books. Our democracy is fragile and I fear the role of big money is going to bring about its downfall.

3 people found this helpful4 people found this helpful

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