National coordinated campaigns unite to revoke corporate personhood, corporate “free speech,” and secure citizens’ rights
Last updated Feb 2, 2010
Update: U.S. Representatives. Donna Edwards and John Conyers today introduced a resolution to amend the Constitution and overrule the Court’s Citizens United ruling. Senator John Kerry also called for such action today. Read more.
BOZEMAN, MT – The Supreme Court has dropped the pretense of impartially interpreting the Constitution in favor of unabashed activism on behalf of corporate power, overruling decades-old precedent that limits corporate power over elections.
The Court enshrined corporations — an entity unmentioned in the U.S. Constitution — with the political rights of human beings, overturning settled law that distinguishes between corporate and individual expenditures in elections.
In response, two citizen coalitions have emerged with the explicit mission of overruling the Supreme Court via amending the Constitution. ReclaimDemocracy.org is among more than one dozen citizen groups that have joined forces to advance Move to Amend, a call to amend the Constitution to revoke the Court’s illegitimate creation of “corporate personhood,” as well as establishing a constitutional Right to Vote and safeguarding local democracy.
A more narrowly-focused coalition has emerged specifically to overrule the Court’s invention of corporate “political free speech.” The groups, Voter Action, Public Citizen, the Center for Corporate Policy, and the American Independent Business Alliance, also unveiled a new website to launch their campaign: FreeSpeechForPeople.org.
Their goal is to amend the Constitution to make clear that corporations are not people entitled to free speech rights under the First Amendment. A bill may be introduced in Congress as early as today.
Please take immediate action
Use the tools provided on the websites above to spread word in every manner possible. Ask your elected officials to get on board at every level of government.
We’ve provided primers to help you write effective letters to the editor and to spread word via talk radio (or download this pdf to get both on one double-sided sheet to distribute at local events). And don’t forget social media!
Also go to news websites and make comments to articles or commentaries with links to ReclaimDemocracy.org. Move To Amend or Free Speech For People, drawing people to the broader issues and the amendment campaign.
We are ready to help you with editing (send drafts here). Please point people to ReclaimDemocracy.org’s online resources for educational material or to support the effort financially. It’s time to fund the Democracy Movement at the level of national political campaigns and launch a major media presence!
Please help make the Supreme Court’s overreach the dawn of a movement for real change to Reclaim Democracy! Your efforts can help turn this attack on democracy into a pivotal moment in American History.
To read the Court’s opinions and a see a roundup of some of the best reporting and analysis of the ruling, click here
More of our pre-decision reporting is here.
Read more on the underlying issue of Corporate Personhood