• Home
  • Independent Voter News
  • Quizzes
  • Election Dissection
  • Sections
  • Events
  • Directory
  • About Us
  • Glossary
  • Opinion
  • Campaign Finance
  • Redistricting
  • Civic Ed
  • Voting
  • Fact Check
  • News
  • Analysis
  • Subscriptions
  • Log in
Leveraging Our Differences
  • news & opinion
    • Big Picture
      • Civic Ed
      • Ethics
      • Leadership
      • Leveraging big ideas
      • Media
    • Business & Democracy
      • Corporate Responsibility
      • Impact Investment
      • Innovation & Incubation
      • Small Businesses
      • Stakeholder Capitalism
    • Elections
      • Campaign Finance
      • Independent Voter News
      • Redistricting
      • Voting
    • Government
      • Balance of Power
      • Budgeting
      • Congress
      • Judicial
      • Local
      • State
      • White House
    • Justice
      • Accountability
      • Anti-corruption
      • Budget equity
    • Columns
      • Beyond Right and Left
      • Civic Soul
      • Congress at a Crossroads
      • Cross-Partisan Visions
      • Democracy Pie
      • Our Freedom
  • Pop Culture
      • American Heroes
      • Ask Joe
      • Celebrity News
      • Comedy
      • Dance, Theatre & Film
      • Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging
      • Faithful & Mindful Living
      • Music, Poetry & Arts
      • Sports
      • Technology
      • Your Take
      • American Heroes
      • Ask Joe
      • Celebrity News
      • Comedy
      • Dance, Theatre & Film
      • Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging
      • Faithful & Mindful Living
      • Music, Poetry & Arts
      • Sports
      • Technology
      • Your Take
  • events
  • About
      • Mission
      • Advisory Board
      • Staff
      • Contact Us
Sign Up
  1. Home>
  2. Campaign Finance>
  3. campaign finance>

100+ democracy reform groups push Congress to overturn Citizens United

Sara Swann
https://twitter.com/saramswann?lang=en
September 05, 2019
100+ democracy reform groups push Congress to overturn Citizens United

More than 100 democracy reform groups signed a letter asking Congress to overturn the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision.

Win McNamee/Getty Images

More than 100 democracy reform organizations are making another attempt at convincing Congress to take action to limit the influence of big money in politics.

A letter signed by 123 organizations was sent to members of the House of Representatives on Thursday, urging them to cosponsor a resolution proposing a constitutional amendment to limit how much can be raised and spent to influence elections. Some of the organizations include American Promise, Common Cause, End Citizens United Action Fund, the NAACP, Public Citizen, U.S. PIRG and Wolf-PAC.

If successful, this amendment would effectively undo the Supreme Court's 2010 ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, which uncapped campaign finance limits.

Currently, 139 House members — all Democrats and one lone Republican, Rep. John Katko of New York — have backed the amendment proposal. But the resolution has remained in committee since it was introduced in January.


Senate Democrats introduced their version of the resolution at the end of July. So far, no Republicans have cosponsored it.

Since the Citizens United ruling this amendment has been introduced every year in the House and Senate. It's only received a vote in the Senate once, five years ago, when the 54 votes from Democrats were 13 shy of the supermajority required to guarantee success.

Sign up for The Fulcrum newsletter

"The U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Citizens United is one of several cases that opened the doors to vastly more special interest money in elections. If the wealthy individuals and concentrations of capital can drown out the voices of ordinary Americans in elections, we cease to be a representative democracy," the letter reads.

The letter also coincides with a national call-in day in which constituents are encouraged to call their representatives and ask them to support the resolution.

Despite slow progress on the federal level, 20 states have passed legislation calling on Congress to amend the Constitution and fix the campaign finance system. If two-thirds of Congress approves of the amendment, three-fourths of the states would be needed to ratify it.

Another pathway would be for two-thirds of the states to call for a constitutional convention, as explained in Article V of the Constitution.

From Your Site Articles
  • Five reasons unlimited spending undermines American democracy ... ›
  • Worse than Citizens United: How the court's latest democratic death ... ›
  • Senate Democrats unify behind altering the Constitution to curb ... ›
  • Just 4 money-in-politics reforms remain in Democracy Madness - The Fulcrum ›
  • Citizens United, dark money square off in Democracy Madness - The Fulcrum ›
  • Citizens United repeal reaches democracy reform Final Four - The Fulcrum ›
  • How campaign finance corruption keeps the minimum wage low - The Fulcrum ›
  • It takes audacity to fix our political system - The Fulcrum ›
Related Articles Around the Web
  • Citizens United is not to blame for the money-in-politics problem - Vox ›
  • The Senate Tried to Overturn 'Citizens United' Today. Guess What ... ›
  • Bipartisan Constitutional Amendment to Overturn Citizens United ... ›
  • Study: Most Americans want to kill 'Citizens United' with ... ›
  • How to Reverse Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission ... ›
  • Democrats introduce constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens ... ›
campaign finance
Get some Leverage Sign up for The Fulcrum Newsletter
Follow
Contributors

Imperfection and perseverance

Jeff Clements

We’ve expanded the Supreme Court before. It’s time to do so again.

Anushka Sarkar

The ‘great replacement theory’ is nonsense

Debilyn Molineaux

Inflation will hit health of low-income Americans hardest

Robert Pearl

Caught in a draft

Lawrence Goldstone

Congress shows signs of bipartisanship with retirement benefits bill

Mario H. Lopez
latest News

Your Take: Inspiring sports memories

Our Staff
20 May

GOP split: Far right gains ground in East, while losing out West

Steven Rosenfeld
20 May

Podcast: Women in and out of politics

Our Staff
20 May

Democratic senators seek $20 billion in election funding

Reya Kumar
19 May

Podcast: A conversation with former Rep. Carlos Curbelo

Our Staff
19 May

Elections require more consistent federal funding, per report

Reya Kumar
18 May
Videos

Video: Helping loved ones divided by politics

Our Staff

Video: What happened in Virginia?

Our Staff

Video: Infrastructure past, present, and future

Our Staff

Video: Beyond the headlines SCOTUS 2021 - 2022

Our Staff

Video: Should we even have a debt limit

Our Staff

Video: #ListenFirstFriday Yap Politics

Our Staff
Podcasts

Podcast: Did economists move the Democrats to the right?

Our Staff
02 May

Podcast: The future of depolarization

Our Staff
11 February

Podcast: Sore losers are bad for democracy

Our Staff
20 January

Deconstructed Podcast from IVN

Our Staff
08 November 2021
Recommended
Your Take: Inspiring sports memories

Your Take: Inspiring sports memories

Your Take
Doug Mastriano

GOP split: Far right gains ground in East, while losing out West

Leveraging big ideas
Podcast: Women in and out of politics

Podcast: Women in and out of politics

Leadership
Statue of William Henry Seward

Imperfection and perseverance

Civic Ed
​Sen. Amy Klobuchar

Democratic senators seek $20 billion in election funding

Government
Podcast: A conversation with former Rep. Carlos Curbelo

Podcast: A conversation with former Rep. Carlos Curbelo

Leadership