1. Special Interest Groups

2. Special Interest Groups (SIGs) – People or corporations that have common views and try to influence the political process
NRA
NEA
UAW
MADD
PETA
AARP
NAACP
ACLU
…and about a million others

3. Special Interest Groups work with . . . .
Lobbyists
In order to directly influence law making
Political Action Committees
In order to directly influence elections

4. Lobbyists
Are individual people that meet with lawmakers (representatives, senators, presidents) on behalf of SIGs
They pay for dinners, sports tickets, concert tickets, etc.
They have to follow a set of strict rules set by the government
They are mostly lawyers that work out of “Lobbying Firms”
There are over 10,000 registered lobbyists in Washington D.C.
They can even work on state and local levels

5. Political Action Committees
Groups that represent multiple Special Interest Groups working together for a common goal (NAACP, UAW, NEA)(NRA, Right to Life)
Try to get certain people elected
Mostly work to collect money and use that money on advertisements
Responsible for most of the campaign ads you see on T.V.

6. Citizens United v. Federal Elections Commission (2010)
Supreme Court Case that looked at the issue of “money in politics”
Citizens United wanted to air an anti-Hillary movie leading up to a general election (which was illegal at the time)
The FEC stated that it was illegal
The Supreme Court sided with Citizens United 5-4 (conservative)
Because of this court case people and corporations are now allowed to donate unlimited amounts of money for political campaigns

7. Lets take a closer look

8. The History of Special Interest Groups
Special Interest Groups have existed in the United States since the forming of our constitution
The Founding Fathers believed that special interest groups could only be “checked” by other special interest groups, so they made sure to include their protection when they wrote the “bill of rights”
Special Interest groups were intended to be protected by the 1st amendment
The Founding Fathers called them “factions”

9. “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances”

10. Which parts of the 1st Amendment protect SIGs?
“Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of speech”
“Right of the people peaceably to assemble”
“Right of the people to petition the government”

11. Lobbying was done very “discreetly” throughout the 1700s
It became much more common during the time period following the civil war (this is known as “The Reconstruction”)
Lobbying was mostly at the state level, because the federal government was fairly weak at the time

12. Controversy of SIGs
In the early 1900s the life insurance industry was bribing politicians
During the 1970’s “Watergate Scandal” it was revealed that the milk industry had been donating large sums of money to the president and certain representatives for favorable agricultural policies
In the mid 2000’s a fake petition was organized by a gambling SIG in order to protect Indian Casinos from competing casinos.

13. Victories of SIGs
NAACP, SNCC, and the ACLU were important during the victories of the civil rights movement
The AWSA was important in getting women the right to vote
The Federalists were important in getting the country to adopt the Constitution of the United States