( CNN ) -- On Wednesday , April 2 , the United States Supreme Court ruled that any cap on the overall amount a person can spend to influence an election is unconstitutional . Following on the heels of the court 's previous decision in Citizens United , the McCutcheon ruling will allow unlimited spending to influence our nation 's political process . In the words of Justice Stephen Breyer , who wrote the dissent in the McCutcheon case , the ruling `` eviscerates our nation 's campaign finance laws , leaving a remnant incapable of dealing with the grave problems of democratic legitimacy that those laws were intended to resolve . '' You should n't need money or connections to get a fair shake in our justice system . That 's the very essence of our American creed . And yet we know that even with previous restrictions , money had a corrupting influence on our democracy . A Federal Election Survey found that 82 % of Americans were worried about special interests buying elections . Three in five Americans thought Congress was already more likely to vote in ways that please their financial supporters , while only one in five Americans thought Congress votes in the best interest of constituents . Several studies find money gives you access to members of Congress and their staff : Contributors have disproportionately better access . And these studies were conducted before the McCutcheon decision , when the total donations to candidates , parties or PACs within an election cycle were still limited at a whopping $ 123,000 . This decision benefits those who have that kind of money , not the everyday campaign contributor . The court upheld the law that puts a $ 5,200 cap on conventional individual contributions to a single candidate . But without the $ 123,000 overall limit , imagine how much worse it will be when a single wealthy donor can contribute $ 3.5 million to a political party and its candidates . What we have politely called `` influence '' up until now will become nothing short of bribery . It 's hard enough to get the people 's will through Congress as is . As is , 90 % of Americans want stronger gun safety laws and yet gun-industry political contributions hobble legislative momentum . And 72 % of voters want to raise the minimum wage -- including a majority of Republicans -- but campaign spending and lobbying by the low-wage fast food and retail industry is stymieing progress in Congress there as well . More than half of Americans want the federal government to limit power plant emissions and take other steps to curb climate change , moves opposed by the wealthy â€ ” and politically generous â€ ” oil and gas industry . On issue after issue after issue , the will of the American people is already up against the often-insurmountable obstacles created by well-heeled corporations armed with campaign contributions . And now it 's just going to get worse . An analysis by the organization Demos found that the McCutcheon ruling could release more than $ 1 billion in additional election spending from wealthy donors through 2020 . The community activist group CREDO Action has launched a campaign to send NASCAR-like judge robes covered in corporate sponsorship logos to the five Supreme Court justices who voted for Citizens United and now the McCutcheon decision . Instead of protecting the marginalized and disenfranchised in America , the five conservative justices have manipulated our Constitution to create new rights and give even more power to our nation 's wealthiest individuals and corporations . In 1816 , Thomas Jefferson wrote , `` I hope that we shall crush in its birth the aristocracy of our monied corporations , which dare already to challenge our government to a trial of strength , and bid defiance to the laws of our country . '' But rather , thanks in part to the Supreme Court ruling in McCutcheon , it is now we the people who have been definitively crushed . As has our democracy .
U.S. Supreme Court rules cap on aggregate amount of election donations is unconstitutional . Sally Kohn : This benefits people who have the most money to buy the most influence . Kohn : Money gives you disproportionately better access to Congress members and staff . Kohn : Massive amounts of money and lobbying overturns the will of Americans on issues .