Why an Amendment?

The U.S. Supreme Court, in Citizens United v. FEC and other rulings, has given corporations and other artificial entities constitutional rights that our Founders intended only for human beings. Using the Bill of Rights, wealthy individuals and corporations have persuaded the courts to overturn state and federal campaign finance laws and many other democratically enacted laws protecting our health, safety, environment, and democracy.

And by declaring money spent to influence elections to be free speech protected by the First Amendment, the Supreme Court has allowed special interest money to flood into elections and overwhelm the voice of the average voter. The system of “one person, one vote” has become “one dollar, one vote.”

Because the U.S. Supreme Court has rejected federal campaign finance law (Citizens United v FEC) and refused to hear state legislature’s objections to that ruling’s impact on state campaign finance law (American Tradition Partnership v Bullock), we must amend. The only authority above the Supreme Court is the U.S. Constitution, and no law passed at the state or federal level can be protected without an amendment.