The far right's most dangerous lawyer: James Bopp, Jr.

James Bopp Jr., currently filing suit to derail Iowa's judicial nomination process, may be the most dangerous, underestimated, and busy attorney on the far right. A special counsel for Focus on the Family, he is also helping NOM evade campaign disclosure laws in several states. Bopp eviscerated McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform legislation by initiating the Citizens United case, which Ted Olson, — yes that Ted Olson — argued successfully before the Supreme Court. How does he do it?

Bopp has a knack for finding provisions in campaign finance laws that have been taken for granted for decades as acceptable restrictions on corporate speech. Then, he makes ACLU-like arguments that such rules violate the First Amendment. Part of Bopp's genius lies in his choice of clients. Although his cases ultimately benefit powerful corporations, their public faces are usually small advocacy groups like Wisconsin Right to Life or Citizens United that are seeking to participate in political debate. Perhaps most impressive, he crafts cases that appear persuasive to people who do not share his agenda (he is a staunch conservative and member of the Republican National Committee). As a journalist and civil libertarian, I was deeply conflicted about the Citizens United case. After viewing the Hillary documentary, I thought Americans ought to be able to watch it on television if they wanted to, and was sympathetic to Bopp's argument that the campaign finance rules in this case resulted in censorship. Clearly the Supreme Court was, too.

Read Stephanie Mencimer's Mother Jones expose (The Man Who Took Down Campaign Finance Reform) of this very dangerous man, then click "Bopp" at the bottom of this post to review aksarbent's two previous posts about him.