Stiglitz's prepared remarks on income inequality are worth reading and can be found here: http://www.nextnewdeal.net/stiglitz-why-inequality-matters-and-what-can-be-done-about-it.
Here is the section of his remarks that made the connection with the Supreme Court's decision for me (highlighting mine):
(W)e pay a high price for this inequality, in terms of our democracy and nature of our society. A divided society is different—it doesn't function as well. Our democracy is undermined, as economic inequality inevitably translates into political inequality. I describe in my book how the outcomes of America’s politics are increasingly better described as the result of a system not of one person one vote but of one dollar one vote. One of the prices we pay for the extremes to which inequality has grown and the nature of inequality in America—both inequality in outcomes and inequalities of opportunities—is that we have a weaker economy. Greater inequality leads to lower growth and more instability. These ideas now have become mainstream: even the IMF has embraced them. We used to think of there being a trade-off: we could achieve more equality, but only at the expense of giving up on overall economic performance. Now we realize that, especially given the extremes of inequality achieved in the US and the manner in which it is generated, greater equality and improved economic performance are complements.More information about the Senate Budget Committee hearing can be found at: http://www.budget.senate.gov/democratic/public/index.cfm/2014/3/meet-the-witnesses-joseph-stiglitiz-and-raj-chetty There are links to more information about the two economists, Stiglitz and Chetty, at that site.
