Washington, DC – Following the seventh anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Citizens United v. FEC decision allowing unlimited corporate spending in elections, U.S. Senator Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) this week joined Senate and U.S. House of Representatives colleagues to reintroduce the Democracy for All constitutional amendment to restore democratic power to the American people. Led by U.S. Senator Tom Udall (D-N.M.), the constitutional amendment would overturn Buckley v. Valeo (1976) and subsequent bad court decisions, like Citizens United, by granting Congress the authority to regulate and limit corporate political spending for federal political campaigns to get big money out of politics.
“The U.S. Constitution puts democratic power in the hands of the American people – not corporations or private companies,” said Cortez Masto. “Since the Citizens United decision, big corporations have gained unprecedented influence over elections and our country’s political process. I am proud to be a cosponsor of this legislation; it’s critical that we end unlimited corporate contributions if we are going to have a democratic process and government that will truly work for all Americans.”
The Citizens United decision granted corporations and other private entities the First Amendment right to spend unlimited amounts of money to influence public elections and prohibited any election laws that would regulate their spending. The Democracy for All Amendment returns the right to regulate elections to the people by clarifying that Congress and the states can set reasonable regulations on campaign finance and distinguish between individuals and corporations in the law.
For more information on the amendment, the background summary is here and section-by-section FAQs are here.
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