For the fourth and final installment of our month-long collaboration with the This Day podcast, we go to 2010 and the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision—which enshrined corporate spending as protected speech and unleashed a new era of dark money in American politics. This Day hosts Jody Avirgan, Nicole Hemmer, and Kellie Carter Jackson are joined by Celina Stewart, CEO of the League of Women Voters, to trace how we got here: from the Tillman Act of 1907 through Watergate, the FEC, the McCain-Feingold Act, and the long effort to keep corporate money out of elections. How much of the problem predates Citizens United, and how much did that ruling change everything?
Be sure to check out the League of Women Voters at lwv.org and their voter information resource at vote411.org.
Learn more about this special series here: https://kettering.org/america-250-podcast-series-begins-in-september/
If you enjoy this episode, go over to This Day’s feed for two more episodes on each of these historical topics. The Context’s host, Alex Lovit, will be the guest in the third episode each week. Listen to all episodes here.
Attention, Washington, DC-area listeners! Join us on Monday, October 19, 2026, for a live taping of This Day. The Context host, Alex Lovit, will join This Day hosts live on stage. The featured guest is Kettering Senior Fellow Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II.
They will be in conversation about the moment of democratic realignment we are living through right now. Are we witnessing a fundamental shift in who holds power, who gets left out, and how race and class are reshaping the coalitions that define American politics? And what can history teach us about moments like this one?
The event is open to the public, and tickets are available through the Howard Theatre.
Do you ever watch the news and wonder, “How did we get here?” Or think to yourself, “Things are bad . . . What can I do?”
The Context is here to help. Our show breaks down the ideas, history, and trends that are shaping democracy. And you don’t need to be an expert to follow along. Every other Tuesday, host Alex Lovit talks about timely topics with big-picture thinkers and hands-on practitioners, like activists, writers, historians, and community leaders.
The topics are heavy, but we try to have fun along the way. To build the future we want, we’ll need knowledge—but also camaraderie and joy.
We hope you’ll join us.