Concerned about unlimited contributions by corporations for political advertising, [Masschusetts] Attorney General Martha Coakley has submitted a formal letter to Congress urging an amendment to the U.S. Constitution to reverse the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission.  The letter sent Wednesday to Congressional leadership was signed by AG Coakley and 10 other state Attorneys General.

In January 2010, the United States Supreme court handed down its decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. The Supreme Court ruled that certain restrictions under federal law on corporate political campaign advertisements violated the First Amendment’s free speech protections, thereby allowing corporations to spend unlimited amounts of money on elections.

“Individual voters will continue to feel disenfranchised and steadily drowned out if corporations are allowed to spend billions in unreported and unaccounted funds to influence elections,” AG Coakley said.  “This unrestricted flow of money leads our citizens to believe that our current political system favors the wealthy few instead of the public good.”

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In addition to Massachusetts, the Attorneys General of the following states signed onto the letter of support: Delaware, Hawaii, Kentucky, Mississippi, Montana, New Mexico, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont and West Virginia.

(See the original press release from MA AG Coakley’s office here.)

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