Perhaps the main factor that has allowed for interest groups to have a role in US politics is the failure of campaign finance reform. Supreme Court cases such as Citizens United v. FEC (2010) and SpeechNOW.org v. FEC (2010) have paved the way for the creation of Super PACs which enable pressure groups to send unlimited donations to members of Congress. It's for this reason that the 2014 midterm elections were the most expensive in US history, costing around $3.7 billion in total. Use OpenSecrets to take a look at how much pressure groups donate to candidates. This high influx of campaign finance to members of congress has, as Philip Stern illustrates in the Best Congress Money Can Buy, enabled pressure groups to effectively 'buy' Congress and influence in US politics.
With the 113th Congress ending as the most polarised in US history, the Republicans and Democrats have moved away from the centre ground and this had made it increasingly difficult for parties to agree on anything in Congress leading to gridlock. Gridlock was particularly evident in 2013 with the government shutdown and the fact that 2013 has become known as the least productive legislative year in US history since 1948, reinforcing the rhetoric of a broken Congress and that the 'party is over' as illustrated by David S. Broder. Since the parties are no longer functioning in many key policy areas pressure groups have had to step in. Pressure group involvement in key policy areas such as foreign policy have become increasingly evident recently from AIPACs involvement in the ongoing Iranian nuclear deal talks and AIPAC also hosted a huge conference meeting which consisted of key figures from the Obama administration such as Susan Rice who's Obama's National Security Advisor. So, since the GOP and Democrats are at odds with regards to negotiations with Iran interest groups such as AIPAC have had to step in.
Civil liberties and civil rights have been a consistent issue in US politics and today it has stirred up more pressure group activity. The continuing growing issue over gay marriage and whether it should be legal or not have been a political hot topic in recent years due to Supreme Court rulings such as US v. Windsor which struck down the Defence of the Marriage Act (DOMA) and Hollingsworth v. Perry which struck down California's Proposition 8 and the ongoing Obergefell v. Hodges case which will determine whether or not gay marriage is a constitutional right. The issue of gay marriage has stirred up a lot of activity from interest groups such as Human Rights Campaign advocating marriage equality. With the issue of racial equality and recent killings of black males by excessive force from the police, such as Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Walter Scott and Freddie Gray, more interest groups activity has been stirred up as seen by the Black Lives Matter movement organising online campaigns and petitions to seek justice for Michael Brown's family and stop the militarisation of the police force. Obama has already responded by limiting the amount of military grade gear and weapons police forces around the US have.
The fragmented nature of the US political system creates so many access points for interest groups to have influence it's inevitable they will play a significant role somewhere in the political system. This can be either at state level through initiatives and propositions and national level through lobbying firms on K Street and the revolving door.
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