Category: Democracy Amendments
Senator John McCain says Citizens United is Supreme Court’s “worst decision ever”.
Senator McCain (R-AZ), raised his criticism of the Citizens United decision to a new level, calling it the Supreme Court’s "worst decision ever" in a speech at Oxford University on October 10th.
Below are excerpts from Huffington Post and Oxonian Globalist reports.
—
The New York Times calls for a constitutional amendment to overrule Citizens United.
An editorial in the Sunday New York Times called for a constitutional amendment. Here are a few quick excerpts:
The Cacophony of Money
Editorial, The New York Times, Sunday October 7th, 2012
This is only the first presidential election in the Citizens United era of unlimited spending…
Ahead of Obama-Romney Debate, Over 40,000 Americans Urge Moderator To Raise Issue of Money in Politics
Our joint news release today, with Avaaz and unPAC:
41,161 signatures hand-delivered to Jim Lehrer on Thursday
Moderator urged to ask candidates, “if elected would you call on Congress to study and propose a Constitutional Amendment designed to reduce the influence of money in our political system”
Movement To Overturn Citizens United Targets 2012 Ballot Measures
Derek Cressman
Alternet
September 20, 2012
From America’s earliest days, states have sent instructions to Congress on constitutional reforms.
As we head into the home stretch of the 2012 campaigns, from coast to coast voter frustration with negative campaign ads — and the big money behind them — is more than palpable.
Romney agrees: “We’ve got to get the money out of the teachers unions going into campaigns.”
It’s being widely reported that Mitt Romney yesterday called for limits on campaign spending by teachers’ unions. A blog post at The Nation puts this succinctly in perspective.
The constitutional amendments we support would even-handedly enable the elimination of politcal contributions from for-profit corporations, incorporated non-profits, and incorporated labor unions alike. (For more on this, see our analysis of various bills here.)
Local protest targets business, elections
News & Record – Greensboro, North Carolina
Amanda Lehmert
September 24, 2012
Local advocates have joined a national protest against corporate influence over elections.
Latest poll: 83% want limits on campaign spending by corporations, unions, and other organizations.
Poll: Americans largely in favor of campaign spending limitations
by Morgan Little
The Los Angeles Times, September 16, 2012
Excerpt:
8 down, 30 to go: Connecticut becomes 8th state to call for a constitutional amendment.
A majority of Connecticut’s state legislators in both chambers — 88 state representatives and 22 state senators — have signed a letter calling on Congress to pass a constitutional amendment to overturn the U.S. Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision.
This makes Connecticut the 8th state to call for an amendment, joining California, Hawaii, Massachusetts, New Mexico, Rhode Island and Vermont, which have all passed legislative resolutions, and Maryland, where a majority of legislators have signed a letter similar to this one in Connecticut.
Justice Scalia encourages amending the Constitution in response to Citizens United.
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, a noted conservative who was among the signers of the Court’s 5-4 majority opinion in Citizens United, last week called on those of us — 80% of Americans, according to polls — who disagree with that decision to respond by amending the Constitution.
According to the Las Vegas Sun-Journal, the following exchange took place Wednesday, Sept. 5th between Scalia and Kathy Kama, a law student at the University at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas: