May 21,
2012
To: SPEEA
Council Members
From: SPEEA
Legislative and Public Affairs Committee
Subject: PRE-SUBMITTED
NEW BUSINESS: Oppose Corporations are People Rights in State and National Politics.
Background
On
January 21st 2010 a sharply divided Supreme Court decision ruled that the
restrictions on corporate expenditures in elections contained in the federal
Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (known as BCRA or “McCain-Feingold”) violated
the First Amendment protections of free speech.
The ruling
dramatically expands the new “corporate rights” doctrine that has transformed
the First Amendment in recent years, and exposes an already-corrupted political
process to a new flow of billions of dollars of corporate money.
The
result in Citizens United is radical. To accomplish this, the majority - -
Chief Justice Roberts and Justices Scalia, Thomas, Kennedy and Alito - - had to
overrule two previous cases where the Court ruled correctly that Congress and
the States may try to keep corporate money out of politics. In the Citizens
United case, the Court cast aside a 2003 decision, McConnell v. FEC, where the
Court upheld the very provision it now ruled unconstitutional, and a 1990
decision, Austin v. Chamber of Commerce, where the Court had ruled that a Michigan
law limiting corporate expenditures in elections did not violate the First
Amendment.
Corporations are not people endowed with Constitutional rights.
They are entities created by the laws of states and nations. Contributions and
expenditures for political purposes are not Constitutionally
protected speech. States shall have the power to regulate contributions and
expenditures for campaigns and ballot measures and require public disclosure of
the sources of same.
Recently introduced H.J. Res 88 - the Peoples Rights Amendment would
overturn the Citizens United ruling and help to ensure that people not
corporations shall govern America.
National polling shows that opposition to unchecked corporate power
transcends political and ideological lines. Support for an Amendment to
overturn Citizens United in 2011: Independent Voters = 82% Republican Voters 68% Democratic Voters = 87%
Links:
http://freespeechforpeople.org/ See pdf downloads, articles, etc.
http://democracyisforpeople.org/faq.php
SPEEA L&PA
Committee Recommendation
The SPEEA Legislative and Public Affairs Committee recommends
passage of this motion.
MOTION
It is moved that: THE SPEEA COUNCIL supports State and National
efforts to reverse the 2010 Citizens United ruling and to limit the power of
corporations from having the same constitutional rights as people.
Pro’s
This will help restore campaign spending transparency and address
political disparity created by the Supreme Court's 2010 Citizens United ruling.
Con’s
It may be viewed as anti-business.