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Showing Original Post only (View all)Democratic Representative Introduces Two Bills To OVERTURN Citizens United Ruling [View all]
One day after the three-year anniversary of the landmark Supreme Court ruling for Citizens United, the fight to overturn it has begun. Two bills were introduced by U.S. Representative Jim McGovern of Massachusetts: one that declares that corporations are not people, and one that says that Congress has the power to regulate the financing of political campaigns.
Both pieces of legislation are the first step in what will likely be a long and bitter fight to make an addition to the U.S. Constitution. If successful, it would mark the 28th Amendment to this countrys sacred document of governance. The last time an amendment was ratified was in 1992. It took over 200 years for it to pass the 2/3 majority of both Houses and the 3/4 majority of the states to meet the requirements. Most probably dont remember it. It determined when changes could be made to Congress pay. Most would not consider that a life-altering change. However, many would agree that the current proposed Amendment does matter to them.
Shortly after the Supreme Court ruled for Citizens United, 80% said that they disagreed with the ruling. Since then, sentiment has softened some, with 62% saying they opposed the ruling. A recent poll by the Pew Research Center had similar findings. Of those who were familiar with the Supreme Court ruling, 65% felt that the Super PACs had a negative impact on campaigns. Surely, supporters realize that as time passes, their window of opportunity will get smaller.
Thats why the groups that support the Amendment are making sure people dont forget. Groups pushing for the Amendment include Free Speech for People, Public Citizen, and People for the American Way. Move to Amend is another group that has worked hard to gather support for the change. They have regular rallies to spread the word, their website is full of information on the topic, and their petition has over 250,000 signers. Whichever version you look at, they all seem to come to the same conclusion corporations are not people. Congressman McGovern stated it best when he proposed his version:
The fact is, corporations are not people. And the Constitution was never intended to give corporations the same rights as the American people. Corporations dont breathe. They dont have kids. And they dont die in wars.
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Democratic Representative Introduces Two Bills To OVERTURN Citizens United Ruling [View all]
Segami
Jan 2013
OP
If you resent that obvious fact, I'm quite sure you are free to leave. Meanwhile,
kestrel91316
Jan 2013
#51
This proposed amendment strips all corporations (including LLCs) of all constitutional rights.
Nye Bevan
Jan 2013
#3
Planned Parenthood is not a natural person, so has zero constitutional rights
Nye Bevan
Jan 2013
#32
And it's not like if the First Amendment was overturned, people would immediately be arrested
Nye Bevan
Jan 2013
#16
So under your system, book publishers could be prevented from publishing books
Nye Bevan
Jan 2013
#31
So if I understand correctly, under your proposal, a publisher that is a corporation could be banned
Nye Bevan
Jan 2013
#37
Ah. So it *would* be constitutional for Congress to ban corporations from publishing books
Nye Bevan
Jan 2013
#50
But are you okay when the power of the state is used to go after a corporate entity for its speech?
onenote
Jan 2013
#43
Explain how "direct ownership" of the NAACP would work? How do you make it a "natural person"
onenote
Jan 2013
#49
Very, very timely. Although with the revelations of the NRA types supplying arms abroad...
freshwest
Jan 2013
#10
This may be the king pin to saving our country from total corruption.
The Wielding Truth
Jan 2013
#34
It's a Constitutional Amendment. It needs a 2/3rds majority in the Senate and House,
Nye Bevan
Jan 2013
#13
The campaign finance amendment repeals 1st amendment protection of political speech
eallen
Jan 2013
#35
YES. And the irony is that people like David Koch would still have unlimited free speech,
Nye Bevan
Jan 2013
#38