{"id":6471,"date":"2011-12-09T00:01:22","date_gmt":"2011-12-09T08:01:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/2011\/12\/09\/the-saving-american-democracy-amendment\/"},"modified":"2011-12-09T00:01:22","modified_gmt":"2011-12-09T08:01:22","slug":"the-saving-american-democracy-amendment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/2011\/12\/09\/the-saving-american-democracy-amendment\/","title":{"rendered":"The Saving American Democracy Amendment"},"content":{"rendered":"

I trust that most of you will agree that Citizens United<\/em> is the worst Supreme Court Amendment since Dred Scott<\/em>.  Several bills are circulating in Congress to mitigate the damage done by this unconstitutional decision, but even if they pass, there is nothing to stop the five Republican Injustices from overturning them.  Long term, we need a Constitutional amendment to undo the damage.  Yesterday, Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) introduced that amendment.<\/font><\/p>\n

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\"9CorpFlag\"Warning that \u201cAmerican democracy in endangered,\u201d Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) today proposed a constitutional amendment to overturn a Supreme Court ruling that allowed unrestricted and secret campaign spending by corporations on U.S. elections<\/strong>. The first constitutional amendment ever proposed by Sanders during his two decades in Congress would reverse the narrow 5-to-4 ruling in Citizens United vs. the Federal Elections Commission. In that controversial decision almost two years ago, justices gave corporations the same First Amendment free-speech rights as people.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere comes a time when an issue is so important that the only way to address it is by a constitutional amendment,\u201d Sanders said of the effort to override the court decision that he labeled \u201ca complete undermining of democracy.\u201d  <\/p>\n

Sanders\u2019 Saving American Democracy Amendment would make clear that corporations are not entitled to the same constitutional rights as people and that corporations may be regulated by Congress and state legislatures. It also would preserve the First Amendment guarantee of freedom of the press.<\/strong> It would incorporate a century-old ban on corporate campaign donations to candidates, and establish broad authority for Congress and states to regulate spending in elections\u2026 [emphasis added<\/em>]<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Inserted from <Common Dreams<\/a>><\/p>\n

Here is Bernie introducing it on the Senate floor.<\/font><\/p>\n