Ten years ago today, the Supreme Court handed down its catastrophic Citizens United ruling.
Just minutes later, Public Citizen launched our campaign for a constitutional amendment to overturn the court’s disastrously misguided decision.
The progress you and Public Citizen have helped lead the way on is nothing less than incredible:
- Collected millions of petition signatures in support of a constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United.
- Won amendment resolutions in 20 states — more than half the number required for ratification — as well as over 800 cities and towns all across the country.
- Scored a 54-45 Senate vote in favor of amending the constitution only five years after the ruling.
- Brought together a diverse and mighty group of organizations — women’s rights, consumer, civil rights, labor, environmental protection, faith-based, small business, health-focused and much, much more — all united behind an amendment.
- Made Citizens United such a widely scorned decision that four out of five Americans want it overturned.
And we’re gaining steam even as I write!
Right now, we’re taking our effort to the House of Representatives:
- In the weeks ahead, we hope to secure a hearing diving into the case for an amendment.
- Over the coming months, we will surpass 218 co-sponsors (a majority) for the Democracy For All Amendment overturning Citizens United.
- And then we’re going to win a majority of the House in a formal vote for the amendment.
Look, when we launched this campaign, a lot of our friends — even a lot of my personal friends — said the idea was crazy. Not wrong, but hopeless.
Here’s what we said: We’re going to prove otherwise not by arguing about it, but by organizing and forcing the idea into the mainstream.
We’ve been more successful at that, faster, than we hoped possible.
We also told skeptics that there was no choice but to call for an amendment. Citizens United would empower and entrench the corporate class and block the progressive policies our country desperately needs and the American people overwhelmingly support.
Unfortunately, that forecast turned out to be devastatingly accurate as well.
Citizens United is the defining judicial decision of a New Gilded Age. And its impact has been even more severe than we anticipated.
Our new research shows that the top 25 donors are responsible for nearly half of all individual contributions to super PACs since Citizens United was handed down.
That’s called plutocracy.
Not so incidentally, we also found that among ZIP codes with the most contributions to super PACs, those from majority-white areas outnumber those from majority-minority areas by more than ten to one.
Since Citizens United, we’ve seen a huge surge in spending by outside groups like super PACs, which focus on close races and often spend more on elections than the candidates themselves. Much of the spending comes from Dark Money organizations that don’t disclose their backers. And the money is spent overwhelmingly on negative attack ads that degrade our democracy and increase public cynicism.
All of this spending doesn’t just affect election results. It affects who runs for office, what candidates are willing to say, what issues are taken seriously, and what elected officials are willing to do.
Why do our elected officials fail to support policies that are desperately needed and that win support from gigantic majorities?
Why do they fail to take action to avert climate catastrophe?
Why do they fail to curb Big Pharma ripoffs?
Why do they fail to raise the minimum wage?
You can’t answer any of these questions without talking about Citizens United.
Well, you and Public Citizen are talking about Citizens United.
We’re leading the charge to get it overturned.
And we’re on the verge of making major strides.
On this most regrettable of anniversaries, can you make a quick donation to help restore democracy and power forward our campaign for a constitutional amendment overturning Citizens United?
For democracy,
- Robert Weissman, President of Public Citizen
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