Robert E. Mutch is an independent scholar who specializes in the history of campaign finance.
Campaign finance expert Mutch surveys an incendiary and timeless subject with considerable finesse. Publishers Weekly [Mutch] contributes a broad perspective to the heated controversy provoked by the current Supreme Court and its decision that corporations can use their financial power to influence electoral outcomes-putting corporations on par with individual people... An excellent discussion of election finance reform. Kirkus Reviews Mutch's book supplies the crucial context that is missing in today's campaign finance debate. American Constitution Society for Law and Policy Blog < Buying the Vote examines the evolution of the financing of presidential elections, the adoption and impact of federal campaign-finance laws, and the Supreme Court's campaign-finance cases... Mutch is surely correct that the Court's decisions, rooted in a controversial legal theory, 'have had a substantial effect on political reality' and have sharply narrowed the range of possible reforms.> -Journal of Interdisciplinary History