In the Courts | Follow the $ | Public Officials | Constitutional Amendments | State and Local Support | Organizations | Media | Polling | Toolkits | Frequently Asked Questions | Other | Adding Resources

 

 

• McCutcheon v. FEC, 572 U.S. (2014) | SCOTUSblog
• Arizona Free Enterprise Club’s Freedom Club PAC v. Bennett, 564 U.S. (2011) | SCOTUSblog
• Speechnow.org v. FEC, 599 F.3d 686 (2010) | SCOTUSblog
• Citizens United v. FEC, 588 U.S. 310 (2010) | SCOTUSblog
• Davis v. FEC, 554 U.S. 724 (2008) | SCOTUSblog
• Wisconsin Right to Life v. FEC, 551 U.S. 449 (2007)
• Republican Nat’l Comm v. FEC, 487 F. Supp. 280, 286 (S.D.N.Y. 1980)
• Buckley v. Valeo, 424 U.S. 1 (1976)

 

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• Federal Election Commission, Campaign Finance Disclosure Portal
• OpenSecrets.org by the Center for Responsive Politics, 2014 Election Overview
• OpenSecrets.org by the Center for Responsive Politics, Outside Spending
• OpenSecrets.org by the Center for Responsive Politics, Politicians & Elections
• ProPublica, FEC Itemizer: Browse Federal Campaign Finance Filings
• October 2015 by the Center for Public Integrity: Liz Essley Whyte and Ashley Balcerzak show how outside groups are playing a bigger role in 2015 state elections. 2015 state ad wars tracker.
• September 2015 by OpenSecrets.org, Center for Responsive Politics: Robert Maguire and Will Tucker show how Super PACs and dark money groups are spending far more than in ’12 cycle.
• September 2014 by the Center for Public Integrity: Rachel Baye, Reity O’Brien, Kytja Weir, and Ben Wieder show how non-candidate spending has increased in state elections.
• November 2012 by US PIRG and Demos: Blair Bowie and Adam Lioz show how big outside spenders have drowned out small contributions.

 

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• Federal and state public officials who have endorsed the amendment strategy
• Members of Congress who have – and haven’t – endorsed the amendment strategy, with contact information
• In its “Across the Aisle” coverage, Free Speech for People takes a look at the growing transpartisan movement that is calling for a constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United and reclaim democracy for “we the people.” Blog. Reports: 2013, 2014.

 

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• Money in politics constitutional amendments introduced in Congress, from today back to Citizens United and beyond

 

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• List of actions showing state and local support for constitutional remedies
• Sample resolution language
• Map: Citizens United – Resolutions and Ballot Initiatives
• Map: Move to Amend
• November 2014 by Move to Amend: Americans Ready to Amend the Constitution.

 

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• Click here for the full list of United For The People organizations

 

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• Articles, editorials, letters to the editor, and op-eds on the call for constitutional remedies to overturn the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision and related cases

 

Multimedia

 

• 11/22/14 The Huffington Post Activist Comics: Constitutional Amendment by John Wellington Ennis
• 9/18/14 Stouh Dakota Public Broadcasting Campaign Finance Reform Splits SD U.S. Senators by Charles Michael Ray
• 10/8/13 Public Interest Pictures Supreme Court Rally: McCutcheon v. FEC by John Wellington Ennis
• 4/5/12 Democracy Now 11 Attorneys General Support Amendment to Overturn Citizens United
• 2/25/11 The Story of Stuff Project The Story of Citizens United v. FEC

 

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• September 2015 by Selzer & Company on behalf of Bloomberg Politics: “Unhappiness with the 2010 decision cuts across demographic and partisan and ideological lines. Although the ruling was fashioned by the court’s conservative majority, Republicans oppose Citizens United 80 percent to 18 percent, according to the poll. Democrats oppose 83 percent to 13 percent, and independents, 71 percent to 22 percent. Among self-described liberals, conservatives, and moderates, 80 percent say the decision should be overturned.” Article. Poll. Further: “Among other issues polled, campaign finance reform garnered some of the strongest support among Democrats and Republicans. Nearly nine in 10 Americans want campaign finance rules changed so that the wealthy don’t have more influence than those without money.” Article. Poll.
• June 2015 by The Wall Street Journal and NBC News: “Asked to rank their top concerns about the upcoming presidential election, one-third of Americans pointed to the sway that companies and wealthy individuals may have over the outcome, more than for any of five other issues tested.” Article.
• May 2015 by The New York Times and CBS News: “Americans of both parties fundamentally reject the regime of untrammeled money in elections made possible by the Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling and other court decisions and now favor a sweeping overhaul of how political campaigns are financed.” Article. Poll.
• July 2014 by Democracy Corps on behalf of Every Voice: “There is overwhelming cross-partisan support of a Constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United . . . Voters support such an amendment by an overwhelming 73 to 24 percent margin, including majorities in even the reddest states.”
• November 2013 by MFour Market Research and Tulchin Research on behalf of Represent.Us: More than seven in ten voters believe that our election system is “biased in favor of the candidate with the most money,” and more than nine in ten think that “it is important that ‘our elected leaders reduce the influence of money in political elections.'”
• May/June 2013 by Hart Research Associates and American Viewpoint on behalf of the Committee for Economic Development: “87% [of business executives] say the campaign finance system needs major reforms or a complete overhaul.”
• April 2013 by the University of New Hampshire Survey Center on behalf of the New Hampshire Coalition for Open Democracy, Free Speech For People, People For the American Way, and Public Citizen: “More than two-thirds of New Hampshire adults . . . think there should be an amendment to the U.S. Constitution that would limit campaign contributions and spending.”
• April 2012 by Opinion Research Corporation on behalf of the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law: “[T]he 2012 election cycle has given rise to significant, bipartisan fears of corruption and heightened distrust in government.”
• January 2012 by The Pew Research Center For The People & The Press: “[A]mong those who have heard about [Citizens United], comparably wide majorities in each [party] say it is having a negative effect on the campaign this year.”
• December 2011/January 2012 by Lake Research Partners for the American Sustainable Business Council, Main Street Alliance, and Small Business Majority: “Small business owners view [Citizens United] as bad for small business.”

 

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• #GetMoneyOut action site, including information, resources, and ways to get involved in the fight to build a democracy where the size of your wallet does not determine the strength of your voice in our government and where all citizens have an equal voice in deciding who represents them, including by constitutional amendment
• Democracy For All Amendment – Activist Toolkit, including talking points and ways to get involved that are broadly applicable to the amendment movement
• Money Out, Voters In: A Guide to Democratic Reform, including constitutional amendment advocacy tools among a broad range of “money out, voters in” reforms
• Amending the Constitution for Government Of, By, and For The People

 

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Question: Why have so many different constitutional amendments been proposed? Wouldn’t it be better if everyone were pressing for the same language?

Answer: Right now, as the movement builds for taking the “for sale” sign off of our democracy, one of the most important things we can do is to help educate and mobilize our friends and neighbors — and elected officials — to get involved and take a stand. There are a lot of really good ideas about the best way to amend the Constitution, and continued debate and dialogue on that and other important issues will only help build the momentum. So right now we believe it’s important to focus on our common agreement that America works best when our government is of, by and for the people and that to achieve that end we must amend the Constitution.

 

Question: What is the process for amending the Constitution?

Answer: An amendment has to be proposed either by a 2/3 vote of both houses of Congress, or else by a constitutional convention convened when the legislatures of 2/3 of the states so request. The amendment has to be ratified either by the legislatures of 3/4 of the states, or by conventions in 3/4 of the states, depending on which means of ratification Congress proposes. All of the amendments to the Constitution, of which there are now 27, were proposed by Congress, and all but one were ratified by state legislatures. The convention route has never been used for proposing an amendment, and was used only once for ratifying an amendment (the 21st, which eliminated Prohibition).

 

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Here are some more materials from United For The People organizations and other allies working on “money out, voters in” reforms:

 

• 2/8/16 People For the American Way PFAW and Allies Release Report on Money in Politics Reform Victories Since Citizens United
• 7/23/15 People For the American Way PFAW and Allies Release Money in Politics Reform Agenda for 2016 Candidates. Allies’ 10/7/15 Letter RE: Agenda in Debate.
• 6/11/15 Public Citizen Pro-Democracy Groups Celebrate Attorney General Approval of Ballot Initiative to Clean Up Elections
• 5/22/15 People For the American Way The Growing Call to #GetMoneyOut
• 1/21/15 Democracy Initiative PRESS RELEASE: Democracy Initiative Organizations Release Statements on the 5th Anniversary of Citizens United Urging Reform
• 1/20/15 People For the American Way On Eve of Fifth Anniversary of Citizens United, Advocates Reach 5 Million Signatures Calling to Overturn Decision
• 1/20/15 People For the American Way PFAW Edit Memo: The Growing Movement to Defend Democracy Five Years After Citizens United by Marge Baker
• 1/15/15 Demos Top 5 Ways Citizens United Harms Democracy & Top 5 Ways We’re Fighting to Take Democracy Back by Liz Kennedy
• 1/15/15 Food & Water Watch Citizens United 101 by Briana Kerensky and Mitch Jones
• 1/6/15 The Hill Punching above his weight by Megan R. Wilson
• 12/30/14 Atlanta Progressive News APN Releases Atlanta Council Scorecard for 2014 Year-End by Matthew Charles Cardinale
• 12/11/14 Demos Stacked Deck: How the Bias in Our Big Money Political System Undermines Racial Equality by Adam Lioz
• 12/2/14 Common Cause Coalition letter on Constitutional Amendment to House of Representatives
• 9/16/14 People For the American Way Edit Memo: Constitutional Amendment to Overturn Decisions Like Citizens United Debated in U.S. Senate, 55 Senators in Support by Marge Baker
• 9/11/14 Democracy Initiative Democracy Initiative Partners and Allies Release Statements Following Senate Vote on Democracy for All Amendment
• 9/9/14 Daily Kos Three million petition signatures to overturn Citizens United delivered to Congress by Carissa Lovelace
• 9/9/14 Public Campaign Senators Speak out on the #Democracy4All Amendment
• 9/8/14 Common Cause Silencing Science
• 9/8/14 Democracy Initiative Democracy Initiative Organizations Release Statements in Support of Democracy for All Constitutional Amendment
• 9/4/14 Progress Illinois Illinoisans Urge Kirk To Support Amendment That Would Curb Citizens United
• 9/3/14 People For the American Way Groups Ramp Up Pressure on Key Senators Ahead of Citizens United Vote

 

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