Campaign finance within constitutional bounds
Obert C. Tanner, a jewelry store magnate who grew up herding sheep in Utah, put himself through college in the 1920s by getting up early every morning to light furnace fires. He died in 1993, but his philanthropy is still creating light and heat, predominantly through the Tanner Lectures on Human Values. Established in 1976, they are delivered annually at nine universities. At Harvard this year, the Tanner Lectures were delivered May 1-2 by Dean Robert C. Post of Yale Law School. He took up an issue that generates a lot of heat but could use some extra light: the constitutional debate over campaign finance reform. In 2010 the Supreme Court ruled on Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, a case so starkly contentious that “constitutional arguments slide past each other with scarcely a moment of mutual engagement,” said Post. The issue centered on a single question: Should corporations be allowed to...