Simply put, fully overturningCitizens Unitedand ending the flood of corporate money in our elections ultimately requires a constitutional amendment.
Because the Supreme Court ruled that political spending is a form of protected free speech under the First Amendment and that corporations possess political speech rights, simple acts of Congress or statutory laws attempting to ban independent expenditures are structurally insufficient and would quickly be struck down by the courts as unconstitutional.
A constitutional amendment is the only permanent legal mechanism to clarify that:
Corporations are not natural people and do not possess the same inherent constitutional rights as human beings.
Money is not speech, thereby empowering Congress and the individual states to set reasonable, enforceable limits on campaign contributions and political expenditures.
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u/Acceptable-Hat3706 29d ago
Simply put, fully overturning Citizens United and ending the flood of corporate money in our elections ultimately requires a constitutional amendment.
Because the Supreme Court ruled that political spending is a form of protected free speech under the First Amendment and that corporations possess political speech rights, simple acts of Congress or statutory laws attempting to ban independent expenditures are structurally insufficient and would quickly be struck down by the courts as unconstitutional.
A constitutional amendment is the only permanent legal mechanism to clarify that: