Edward Barrett, Jr., Lectureship on Constitutional Law Featuring Heather Gerken, the J. Skelly Wright Professor of Law, Yale Law School Few cases have generated as much controversy as Citizens United. The story told by reformers and reporters is that Citizens United ushered in a new era of corporate spending, with wealthy corporations spending wildly, saturating the airwaves, and taking over American politics. Most of that story is wrong, and some of it is nonsense. There is a bigger story about the relationship between Citizens United and American politics; it's just not the one we've been told. Professor Gerken will argue that the "dark money" trend is a symptom of a deeper shift taking place in American politics as we move from the political parties we know toward what she calls "shadow parties." And for all the brouhaha over dark money, one day we may think that the bigger and more important problem to emerge from Citizens United is the shadow party.