Category: Democracy Amendments

"The co-opting of the First Amendment has happened slowly, but not at all by accident. First, it was helped along by questionable court decisions. Today, it is being accelerated by a strange alliance between two groups: a new generation of conservative judges, who have repudiated the judicial restraint their forebears prized, and legendary liberal lawyers, like Floyd Abrams and Laurence Tribe, who, after building their reputations as defenders of free speech, are using their talents to deploy it as a tool of corporate deregulation."

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In light of the tremendous victory in Los Angeles, where 77% of voters chose ‘Yes’ to overturn Citizens United, The Nation Magazine cites our "The Other Scandal" http://TheOtherScandal.com/ campaign with Common Cause as an effort to expand the discussion on the real issue behind the IRS scandal: the lack of rules and regulations governing money in politics. Click for the full story.

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Everyone agrees that the IRS screwed up — but as Chris Hayes of MSNBC makes clear in this video, the real, underlying problem is that the Citizens United decision took our system of fair-play rules that kept tax-exempt groups out of our elections and "blew it out of the water." Watch this video and join us together with Common Cause to demand that Congress focus on the core problem: Citizens United!
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A new letter to the editor from our ally at the American Independent Business Alliance asks, "What’s ‘Pro’ business" in light of a recent article from the New York Times that cites that the Citizens United ruling as benefiting American businesses. 

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Great to see another state taking initiative to amend the Citizens United ruling! When Angelenos go to the polls next week to choose the next mayor of Los Angeles, they also will become the largest electorate so far to vote on a constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United. The ballot measure, Prop.
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MSNBC’s Chris Hayes explained this week how the Citizens United ruling lead to the current IRS scandal. Watch it in this clip courtesy of MSNBC.

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Free Speech For People helped organize this event today in Concord, New Hampshire, in conjunction with the New Hampshire Coalition for Open Democracy.

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The Sunday New York Times has a great write-up on a new study showng a pervasive pro-corporate bias on the part of the Roberts Court.

Here’s a brief excerpt:

Corporations Find a Friend in the Supreme Court

By Adam Liptak, May 4th, 2013

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William Locke 

Harvard Crimson 

Friday, May 3

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 John Nichols has a terrific write-up in The Nation today on our win yesterday in Maine, posted in its entirety (by permission) below.

As Maine Goes… A Bipartisan Call to Overturn Citizens United

by John Nichols on May 1, 2013 – 2:15 PM ET

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