Elizabeth Warren Talks Corruption, Money, and the Growing Tension Between Congress and the Courts

      All eyes were on the Senate this week as the threat of government shutdown loomed yet again.  Elizabeth Warren and her Democratic colleagues in the Senate removed the provision from the bill passed by the House last week which defunded the Affordable Care Act. The Senate passed a temporary funding extension which will keep the government running through mid-November, that is of course assuming that the volatile House does not kick it right back to the Senate (NBC).  Warren voted in favor of the bill which, in addition to keeping the government from shutting down, continues to fund Obamacare (Govtrack).

      On Friday, Senator Warren spoke at a conference organized by the Constitutional Accountability Center. The conference, entitled: The Founders vs. The Roberts Court, was organized to discuss the growing influence of money in politics; specifically the increasingly pro-business decisions coming out of the Supreme Court.  On October 8th, the court is set to hear the case McCutcheon v. The Federal Election Commission, which seeks to remove the cap placed on campaign donations after the infamous Citizens United case.  In her speech, Warren laid out the mounting tension between Congress and the Supreme Court saying:

"In Citizens United, the Supreme Court famously suggested that Congress is permitted to rout out corruption only in money for vote, quid pro quo cases.  In other words, the Supreme Court says that even if Congress wanted to act, it could deal with only a small piece of the overall corruption that stacks the deck in favor of big business and other special interests here in Washington (Youtube)."

     She went on to discuss the recent work of her former Harvard colleague Lawrence Lessig.  Lessig's work was about the Founders' understanding of corruption and the safeguards against it which were considered when framing the constitution.Warren and Lessig asserted that the understandings about corruption were not as black an white as the money-for-vote corruption that the Supreme Court suggested.  It was institutional (Huffington Post).  Warren has had her sights set on the judicial branch for a while now, arguing that they are doing nothing to stop rich special interests from buying up Congress.

     On the topic of money, Warren also spent some time in her home state of Massachusetts this week announcing two major grants.  An $11.67 million grant to reduce juvenile recidivism and a $3.8 million grant to help Springfield public schools.  The first grant, from the Department of Labor, will go to the Roca Program. Roca is a program in Massachusetts prisons which provides education or vocational training to youth offenders in order to give them better opportunities in life and reduce the rate of recidivism (as it stands now, 67.5% of people leaving prison in Massachusetts return within 6 years (Masslive).  Senators Warren and Ed Markey announced this grant to their constituents in Massachusetts on Thursday.  The other grant from the Department of Education will be spent on the city of Springfield's magnet schools.  Magnet schools are public schools that focus on particular themes such as the arts, science or technology. The grant was announced on Friday by Warren, Markey and Democratic Massachusetts Congressman Richie Neal. About the grant, Warren said "This award reflects SPS's ongoing commitment to making sure all students in Springfield have the tools and skills they need to succeed (Masslive)."

     Finally, this week, Warren is again facing off with Scott Brown, the Republican whom she beat last year when she won her Senate seat.  This time, Brown has announced that he may be running in New Hampshire (where he has a second home) against Democratic incumbent Jeanne Shaheen. Warren has already thrown her support strongly behind Shaheen, and has been working on gaining more support for what is expected to be a hard fought campaign (Masslive). Brown is a highly skilled fundraiser, something that became very obvious in the 2012 election which he just barely lost to Elizabeth Warren. Despite what will likely be a fierce battle, Shaheen, Warren and others are determined to win the fight.