Originally posted at Writeindependent.org on March 26, 2012
Common Cause has launched a coordinated effort to overturn the Citizens United ruling.
Citizens United v FEC basically gives corporations the same “free speech” rights to corporations and unions as people, effectively allowing companies to fund political campaigns.
The Supreme Court decision runs counter to laws in 24 states which prohibit corporations from making independent expenditures from their general treasury. State laws are hard to enforce when the money from corporations supports nationally run campaigns from companies outside those 24 states’ jurisdiction. The strategy for overturning Citizens United, is for each of 50 states to come up against the federal law, then move to make the federal government fall in line with the states’ resolutions.
Common Cause has organized a “Resolutions Week” during the week of June 11th, which will rally citizens to support Amend 2012, a constitutional amendment that removes the teeth of the Citizens United ruling. It will require a large grassroots movement to show five judges in black robes what a stupid thing they did. There is one court higher than the Supreme Court, after all: the American court of public opinion!