Category: Democracy Amendments

NY Times Op-Ed by MT Governor Brian Schweitzer: “Mining for Influence in Montana”

Governor Schweitzer lays out Montana’s well-founded reasons for its 100-year-old ban on corporate money in elections, which the Supreme Court is now blocking. Montana’s law is now the basis of a challenge to Citizens United, with the support of amicus briefs by Free Speech For People, Montana businesses, Senators McCain and Whitehouse, and 22 state attorneys general.
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Victory in Connecticut: a majority of state legislators call on Congress to amend the U.S. constitution.

A majority of Connecticut state legislators has signed onto a letter to Congress "in support of the Constitutional Amendment to overturn Citizens United v. FEC and restore elections to the people." and asking that Congress "firmly establish that money is not speech and that human beings, not corporations, are persons entitled to constitutional rights."

Unlike most other states, Connecticut does not do state resolutions calling for Congressional action, so this letter marks Connecticut’s official action calling on Congress to amend the constitution.

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North Carolina’s legislature has introduced an amendment resolution.

North Carolina’s legislature has just introduced a resolution calling for a constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United and to "restore republican democracy restore republican democracy to the people of the United States."

Here’s a video — it’s a litle rough but it shows passion of our champions and friends in NC on this issue, and how articulate they are.

 

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CBS report: Communities in Western Mass. among those fighting ‘Citizens United’

NORTHAMPTON, MA (WSHM) – More than 50 Massachusetts cities and towns are saying "no" to a 2-year-old Supreme Court decision.

The Citizens United ruling makes it possible for large corporations and super political action committees to make potentially enormous donations to the candidate of their choice.

It is now coming under fire across the country and in western Massachusetts where more than a dozen cities and towns are swiftly passing resolutions that call for an end to the ruling.

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AP: 22 states join campaign finance fight

The Attorneys General of 22 states, plus D.C., have filed an amicus brief before the Supreme Court, asking the Court to uphold Montana’s law barring corporate money from elections.  New York Attorney General Ecric Schneiderman led the the filing of this brief.

Excerpt from the AP story:

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