On Wednesday, in a move he said was to “restore power to the American people,” Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) introduced a constitutional amendment to overturn the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision, which helped usher in a new era of big money in American elections, essentially blocking everyday citizens from the election process.
President Obama explains that ruling at the time below:
Schiff and other Democrats have been working for years to have the ruling, which basically allows for an “anything goes” way of financing campaigns, overturned and this is not the first time he has brought this issue to Congress. He tried once in 2015:
Now, though, with the state of the country in utter peril under the Trump regime, it’s imperative that we citizens take back our country and fast. Schiff and other members of Congress know that one of the only ways to achieve this to keep big business and multi-billion dollar companies from funding campaigns for those candidates (Trump) who will do their bidding in exchange for some cash.
Schiff had this to say:
‘Our democracy is not for sale. We must stop the flood of dark money from drowning out the voices of everyday citizens.’
In 2010, with Justice Scalia being the winning vote, the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 to put aside a ban on independent corporate and union spending in candidate elections, saying the restrictions amounted to censorship. As a result, corporate donations rose from $338 million in 2008, to $1.4 Billion in the 2016 election, according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics.
Efforts by Rep. Schiff and other politicians and private citizens to overturn this ruling in the past have failed, but at this time, more and more are seeing that if something isn’t done and a Democrat doesn’t win the election in 2020, Citizens United will no doubt have been a big part of the reason why.
Featured image via screenshot.
