Some of the greatest challenges in interpreting the free speech clause of the First Amendment have come in the field of campaign finance regulation. It is arguably the doctrinal area where we see the Court’s most extreme swings, overruling established precedent and ignoring empirical realities because of ideological shifts among its members. Furthermore, as we will see, the Court’s missteps began early: by initially framing the campaign finance debate as one focused on problems of “corruption,” the Court foreclosed a more nuanced understanding of the influence of money in politics.