Letter: Amendment can overturn Citizens United ruling

Amendment could overturn Citizens United ruling

We are coming up on the anniversary of an unfortunate decision.

Jan. 21, 2022, marks 12 years since the U.S. Supreme Court's Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission decision gave constitutional rights to artificial entities, such as corporations.

Citizens United, a PAC, was founded in 1988 by Floyd Brown, a longtime Washington political consultant, with major funding from longtime industrialists the Koch brothers. The group promoted corporate interests, socially conservative causes and candidates who supported their main goals of limited government and freedom of enterprise.

In 2009, it sued the FEC, which resulted in eliminating some restrictions on how corporations can spend money in elections.

In 2010, the 5-4 Supreme Court decision was based on two absurd notions: that artificial incorporated entities are entitled to the same Constitutional rights as real people, and that political spending is equivalent to free speech.

With our elections now awash in money, Congress passes laws that favor wealthy campaign contributors. And with their newfound constitutional rights, large corporations use the courts to nullify democratically-enacted laws they find inconvenient.

Only a constitutional amendment can overturn flawed Supreme Court decisions which, in this case, prevents political equality for real people, rich and poor alike.

Fortunately, such an amendment proposal has already been introduced in Congress: the "We The People Amendment" (HJR.48). Please encourage your elected representative in Congress to continue supporting HJR.48 and your senator to co-sponsor HJR.48 once it gets to the U.S. Senate.

Jack W. Dean, Mattapoisett

This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: constitutional amendment can overturn citizens united ruling