In January 2010, the Supreme Court issued one of the most consequential — and controversial — decisions in American legal history: Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. The 5–4 ruling opened the floodgates to unlimited corporate and union spending in American elections, holding that such expenditures constitute protected speech under the First Amendment.
What many feared then has now become undeniable: Citizens United transformed American politics, not by shifting a few votes, but by altering who gets heard, who gets elected, and who gets served. It injected politics with unprecedented sums of money — often undisclosed — and built an infrastructure where influence could be bought, policy could be brokered, and democracy could be drowned in dollars.
Fifteen years later, we are witnessing the full maturation of that system in the form of Project 2025 — a detailed blueprint created by conservative think tanks and political operatives to capture and reshape the American federal government. If Citizens United was the legal key that unlocked the vault, Project 2025 is the detailed plan for what to do with the money once it’s inside.
Together, they represent not two isolated threats, but interlocking systems: one enables vast, unaccountable wealth to dominate elections; the other shows how to convert electoral victory into permanent institutional control.
The Post-Citizens United Era: Money as Power
Justice John Paul Stevens, in his dissenting opinion, warned that Citizens United would “undermine the integrity of elected institutions across the nation.”
He was right.
Since 2010:
- Political spending by outside groups has more than tripled.
- The top 0.01% of donors now account for more than 40% of all campaign money.
- Shadowy “dark money” organizations — legally non-profits– have poured hundreds of millions into elections without disclosing their donors.
Senator Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island has become one of the most persistent critics, arguing that the decision “was the signal rocket that launched an arms race of corporate money in politics.”
And with money comes influence — not just over who runs for office or wins, but over what they do once they’re in power.
Project 2025: The Conversion Blueprint
Project 2025 is the culmination of this new era of influence.
Written primarily by the Heritage Foundation and over 80 allied organizations, the nearly 1,000-page Mandate for Leadership does more than describe a policy platform. It lays out a step-by-step plan to:
- Reclassify and purge tens of thousands of civil servants
- Install loyalists in every agency
- Train new hires through a Presidential Academy
- Consolidate executive control over regulatory, scientific, legal, and enforcement agencies
In other words: once elected — thanks in part to unlimited and untraceable political money — an administration can use Project 2025 to transform temporary political victory into permanent structural dominance.
As Harvard Law Professor Lawrence Lessig has said, Citizens United created a democracy “responsive to funders rather than to voters.” Project 2025 shows what happens when those funders also handpick the people who write, enforce, and reinterpret the law.
From Buying Influence to Owning the System
Zephyr Teachout, law professor and author of Corruption in America, writes that corruption isn’t just bribery — it’s when public institutions serve private, rather than public, interests.
Under Project 2025, this kind of systemic corruption is made legal, procedural, and bureaucratic:
- Corporate-funded Super PACs help elect a president
- That president, using the Project 2025 plan, replaces neutral administrators with ideologically vetted loyalists
- These operatives then rewrite regulations, reallocate federal funds, and remake agency missions to align with donor priorities
It’s not a conspiracy. It’s a documented process. And it doesn’t require changing the Constitution — it only requires winning once.
The Disappearance of Accountability
End Citizens United, the advocacy group formed in direct response to the 2010 ruling, argues that Citizens United’s greatest threat is that it makes it “harder for everyday Americans to have a voice in their democracy.”
Project 2025 worsens this by:
- Silencing civil servants who might speak out
- Removing independent inspectors general
- Concentrating all decisions in the executive branch
- Reframing dissent as disloyalty
When billionaire-funded campaigns and billionaire-influenced government agencies are both protected by loyalty tests and media messaging, there’s almost no space left for transparency or course correction.
A Culture of Obedience, Funded by Secrecy
Citizens United didn’t just make it legal for the wealthy to spend more — it allowed them to spend in secret. Project 2025 weaponizes that silence by encouraging a federal workforce trained not in public service, but in partisan obedience.
As Lawrence Lessig puts it: “The corruption of the system is that it no longer depends on the people. It depends on the funders.”
And the funders are no longer content to influence policy. They want to write it, staff it, enforce it, and shield it from reversal.
That is the essence of Project 2025.
What Comes Next
Overturning Citizens United will be difficult. Amending the Constitution requires two-thirds of Congress and ratification by three-fourths of the states.
But addressing Project 2025 doesn’t require waiting for the perfect legal fix. It requires public attention, political resistance, and a willingness to fight for democratic norms before they’re rewritten.
So what can the average citizen do?
1. Demand Transparency
Support candidates and causes that fight for full disclosure of campaign donors. Push for state and local transparency laws even if federal ones stall. Transparency laws are often easier to enact locally and can create a ripple effect. Insist that your elected representatives disclose where their funding comes from — and hold them accountable when they don’t.
2. Support Reform-Minded Groups
Organizations like End Citizens United, Common Cause, the Brennan Center for Justice, and RepresentUs are on the front lines of campaign finance reform. They draft legislation, run public awareness campaigns, and organize grassroots efforts to push back against corporate influence. Even small donations or volunteer hours help build momentum.
3. Vote in Every Election
Federal races matter, but local elections are often where the groundwork for national influence is laid. Billionaires and dark money groups are increasingly targeting school boards, judicial appointments, and election offices. Know your ballot, vote your values, and help others register and show up.
4. Push for Public Financing
Support state or city programs that use matching funds or democracy vouchers to amplify small-dollar donors. New York City and Seattle have pioneered such systems, helping to diversify candidates and reduce dependency on wealthy funders. Advocate for similar programs in your state.
5. Demand Media Accountability
Dark money thrives in silence. Contact news outlets that fail to disclose the funding sources of political ads or reports. Praise those that do. Support independent journalism and subscribe to outlets that investigate campaign finance abuses. Don’t let billionaire-backed misinformation go unchallenged.
6. Educate and Organize
Host a book group, discussion forum, or town hall on Citizens United, Project 2025, and their consequences. Use platforms like YouTube, Substack, or TikTok to share clear, well-sourced information. Democracy isn’t just defended at the ballot box — it’s protected in conversation, classrooms, churches, and community halls.
7. Stay Engaged Long-Term
Reform won’t come from a single petition or election. Sustained civic pressure, informed voting, and constant vigilance are required. As Justice Louis Brandeis once said, “The most important political office is that of the private citizen.”
Because the system under construction doesn’t just bend the rules.
It reprograms the game.
And when money and power are no longer separate from governance, the question is no longer who wins.
It’s whether the rest of us still get to play at all.
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