Russ Feingold, former Democratic senator from Wisconsin, is one of this era’s most progressive and independent political voices. His record includes party-breaking votes on the Iraq War, longtime opposition to capital punishment, and contributions to the national discourse on immigration reform. Arguably, it may be campaign finance reform that will go down as his greatest legislative battle. Along with Senator John McCain, Feingold spearheaded the Bipartisan Campaign Finance Reform Act of 2002, which restricted campaign funding by corporations and unions. When many of their efforts were reversed in the Supreme Court’s 2010 ruling in Citizens United v. the Federal Election Committee, which rejected limits on corporate spending during elections, Feingold continued to advocate for limits on corporate influence in government as founder of the advocacy group Progressives United. Feingold joins constitutional scholar and Stanford University law professor Pamela Karlan and the University of Chicago Law School’s Geoffrey Stone to share perspectives on this topical and divisive debate.
