Do You Support Overturning Citizens United?

What’s the story?

• A bipartisan group of House members have introduced a constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United.
• The Democracy for All Amendment affirms the right of states and the federal government to pass laws that regulate spending in elections, and was introduced days before the ninth anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Citizens United case which allowed corporations and unions to spend freely in federal elections.

What are both sides saying?

• The amendment was introduced by Reps. Ted Deutch (D-FL), Jim McGovern (D-MA), Jamie Raskin (D-MD), and John Katko (R-NY).
• "Years after the Citizens United decision, election spending has exploded into billion-dollar races that corrupt our elections by drowning out the voices of American voters," Deutch said in a statement.

"Meaningful political participation cannot be reserved for individuals with extreme wealth and special interests, and we cannot continue to allow those who spend the most to dictate public policy that is out of step with our country.

• “Let’s not mince words here – for too long, the needs of the American people have taken a backseat to the needs of corporations that dump unlimited amounts of money into political campaigns,” said McGovern.

“From gun violence to healthcare costs to climate change, the issues Americans care about have been held hostage by wealthy special interests. No more.”

• But David Keating, president of the Institute for Free Speech, a conservative nonprofit, said in May 2018 that voters weren’t sufficiently educated in what a repeal would do. He was referring specifically to a poll which found that that 75 percent of respondents — including 66 percent of Republicans and 85 percent of Democrats — backed a constitutional amendment outlawing Citizens United.

“If Americans knew that repealing Citizens United would allow Congress to censor critics and make it more difficult to defeat corrupt incumbents then they’d be less likely to support it going away,” Keating said. “It’s typical for academics to tout biased polls with questions that try to undermine support for free speech."

What do you think?

Do you want your reps to back the Democracy for All Amendment? Do you support overturning Citizens United? Take action above then share your thoughts below.

—Josh Herman

(Photo Credit: iStockphoto.com / erhui1979)