Biden defends Obama's criticism of high court

[January 28, 2010]  WASHINGTON (AP) -- Vice President Joe Biden on Thursday assailed last week's Supreme Court's decision removing limits on corporate campaign spending, calling it "dead wrong."

And he defended President Barack Obama's criticism of the decision in his State of the Union address Wednesday night with robe-clad Supreme Court justices seated in on the floor of the House before him. Justice Samuel Alito, who voted with the majority in the 5-4 ruling, openly winced at Obama's remarks.

"The president didn't question the integrity of the court. He questioned the judgment of it,:" Biden said in an interview on ABC's "Good Morning America."

"A lot of these multinational corporations are owned as much by foreign interests as they are by domestic interests."

"I think it's an outrageous decision," the vice president added. "Not outrageous in the fact that these guys are bad guys, but outrageous in the way you read the Constitution." Biden called the ruling removing restrictions on spending by corporations and unions "the last thing we need" in American politics. These entities still are prohibited by law from making donations directly to candidates.

Biden said he thought it wrong that a major multinational company can now "with excessive amounts of money be able to influence the outcome of elections," saying that critical U.S. policymaking on issues like energy independence could be affected by the spending.

"I think it was dead wrong and we have to correct it," said Biden, inviting Congress to pass legislation negating the decision.

[Associated Press]

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