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Democratic Senate Candidate: McCutcheon ‘Worst Ruling Since Dred Scott’

Former Capitol Hill staffer Rick Weiland is running for Senate in South Dakota, and he was among the Democrats upset with the Supreme Court’s recent ruling on campaign finance.  

The Supreme Court struck down aggregate contribution limits in a Wednesday ruling in McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission.  

“Today’s decision of the United States Supreme Court to strike down any real limit on the purchase of our democracy by big money may be the worst decision made by any Supreme Court since the Dred Scott case reaffirmed slavery in 1857,” he wrote in a fundraising missive to supporters.  

Really? The case in reference, 1857’s Dred Scott v. Sandford ruled that blacks could not become citizens of the United States and opened the door for slavery in the nation’s territories. It is widely cited as one of the high court’s worst moments in American history.  

But since then, the Supreme Court handed down a slew of other controversial decisions. Most notably, the 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson ruling, which set the standard for “separate but equal” and essentially sanctioned segregation for the next 60 years.  

The race is rated Republican Favored by Rothenberg Political Report/Roll Call.

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