In one of the most analytically astute critical commentaries on Citizens United, legal scholar Timothy Kuhner terms the decision “neoliberal jurisprudence” insofar as it applies neoclassical economic theory to the political sphere, analogizes that sphere to the market, and ultimately undoes what he calls the boundary between democracy and capitalism, “two different systems that belong to two different spheres.” Kuhner is certainly correct, yet still understates the accomplishment of the decision. The reasoning in Citizens United exceeds analogizing democracy to the market and applying neoclassical economic principles to First Amendment cases. Rather, in what Foucault identified as the signature move of neoliberal rationality, the decision recasts formerly noneconomic spheres as markets at the level of principles, norms, and subjects. It remakes the political sphere as a market and remakes homo politicus as homo oeconomicus—in the political sphere, individuals, corporations, and other associations are all operating to enhance their competitive positioning and capital value.

Wendy Brown, Undoing the Demos, loc. 306