Year: 2010

Citizens United Supreme Court Case
Senate Judiciary Committee
Full Committee Hearing

Senate Judiciary Committee (Chairman Leahy, D-Vt.) will hold a hearing titled “We the People? Corporate Spending in American Elections after Citizens United.”
Contact: Bruce Cohen – Democratic Chief Counsel at 202-224-7703

Wednesday, March 10, 10 a.m.
Place 226 Dirksen Bldg.
Witnesses Scheduled:
Jeffrey Rosen, professor, The George Washington University Law School
Doug Kendall, founder and president, Constitutional Accountability Center

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Here’s a PDF and the key section:

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It didn’t take the Iowa Senate long to respond to the devastating blow to democracy struck in Citizens United v. FEC, voting 49-1 to impose tough new regulations on corporations trying to interfere in elections. In doing so, the Iowa Senate became the first state legislative body to pass significant campaign finance reform responding to Citizens United.

The bill promises to regulate corporate interference in elections by:

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MCG10062 S.L.C.
111TH CONGRESS
2DSESSION
S. J. RES. 28
Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States relating to contributions and expenditures intended to affect elections.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
Mr. DODD introduced the following joint resolution; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on
JOINT RESOLUTION
Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States relating to contributions and expenditures intended to affect elections.
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From People for the American Way:

New Poll Shows Broad Support for “Fixing” Citizens United

Americans Want Limits on Corporate Cash in Elections, Would Support a Constitutional Amendment

A national poll of 1,200 Americans commissioned by People For the American Way shows that the Roberts Court is far out of step with the American public over corporate money in elections. It also shows broad support for a wide range of proposals to “fix” the Citizens United ruling, including legislation being introduced in Congress and a proposed constitutional amendment.

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By Dan Eggen, Washington Post

Americans of both parties overwhelmingly oppose a Supreme Court ruling that allows corporations and unions to spend as much as they want on political campaigns, and most favor new limits on such spending, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.

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From an Op-Ed by Senator John Kerry in Politico:

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The Case Against Corporate Speech
By Ralph Nader And Robert Weismann, the Wall Street Journal

Last month, by a vote of 5 to 4, the U.S. Supreme Court gave carte blanche to the world’s largest corporations to spend unlimited sums of money to support or oppose candidates for elected office. Big Business domination of Washington and state capitals will now intensify.

The case of Citizens United portends dire consequences for the nation’s constitutional premise of “we the people,” not we the corporations. Our constitution, at its origins and through all of its amendments, makes no mention of corporate entities, only human beings and their government.

For 120 years, it was not Congress but the Supreme Court that expanded the definition of “persons” to include for-profit corporations for the purposes of applying constitutional protections. For 30 years, the court has granted First Amendment speech protections to corporations as “artificial persons.”

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