For The Atlantic, Visiting Senior Fellow at American Economic Liberties Project Leo Wise has written How Corruption Got This Bad. Wise reports that he ended his career in the specialized DOJ unit that prosecuted public corruption around the USA until it was effectively shut down in 2025.

He explains his concern:

As a former federal prosecutor, the question I get asked most is “Isn’t that illegal?” Too often the answer is no. Over the past 40 years, the Supreme Court has narrowed our anti-corruption laws, case by case, until a lot of conduct that any juror would call corruption is now legal. I saw it from the inside. In 20 years at DOJ, I had to turn away cases I knew I could never make stick because of these rulings. In a new piece for The Atlantic, I walk through how we got here, from McNally to McDonnell to Snyder to the Trump immunity decision, and what Congress can do about it. Most of the damage came from the Court reading statutes narrowly, which means Congress can fix most of it by passing new laws. The next Congress should make that a priority.

Wise describes how Donald Trump, his family, and other American politicians have received enormously valuable benefits from people seeking government favours. In the cases he describes, public power appears to serve private enrichment, with little meaningful accountability.

Supreme Court decisions have weakened that accountability. In its 1999 Sun-Diamond decision, the Court ruled that giving lavish gifts simply because of an official’s position was insufficient to establish an offence,. In 2024, the Court granted presidents criminal immunity for their official actions.

As Wise puts it, “This isn’t partisan politics; it’s political elites protecting political elites.”

Canada has its own problem with the relationship between political power and corporate wealth. Too often, our old-line parties appear more responsive to large corporations than to small businesses and individuals. Politicians need not accept envelopes of cash to serve corporate interests. Shared assumptions, privileged access, and careers moving between government and business can produce policies that favour the already powerful. Conduct can be lawful and still undermine the public interest.

Challenging that concentration of power is the purpose of the American Economic Liberties Project. Funded by foundations and individuals, it advocates for vigorous investigations, strong antitrust enforcement, anti-corruption measures, corporate accountability, and public agencies equipped to enforce the rules. Its goal is to challenge monopolies’ dominance over markets and society.

Canada needs the same determination to confront concentrated corporate power. The Canadian Anti-Monopoly Project provides a Canadian voice for that effort, combining research, public advocacy, and proposals to strengthen competition and curb monopoly power.

“Competition problems do not stop at national borders, especially in markets shaped by large multinational companies,” said Keldon Bester, Executive Director of the Canadian Anti-Monopoly Project.