Yesterday, the city of Davis voted unanimously to support Assembly Joint Resolution 22. The text of the resolution passed by the Davis city council can be found here. AJR 22 is working its way through California's state legislature; the bill would urge Congress to begin the process of a Constitutional Amendment in order to overturn the Citizens United Supreme Court ruling. The Citizens United Supreme Court decision is what allows Corporations and "Super PACS" to spend unlimited funds on any individual candidate or party they choose.
Davis joins New York City and Portland in calling on Congress to begin the process of a Constitutional Amendment for campaign finance reform. The effort in Davis, like in these other cities, was spearheaded by the Occupy Davis group. Occupy is developed growing momentum for repealing the Citizens United ruling that many see as swinging the door of corruption completely open.
The resolution passed by Davis points out that the rights and protections granted in the Constitution were intended only for "natural persons", and that the Citizens United ruling that Corporations are people flies in the face of that. But it may not have to come to a Constitutional Amendment. Two Supreme Court Justices, Ginsberg and Breyer, have recently stated their interest in having the Supreme Court reconsider its Citizens United ruling based on a recent case in Montana.
If the Supreme Court overturns itself on Citizens United that would be a huge victory for the Occupy movement. It would be a huge victory for our Democracy. Even if no Constitutional Amendment process begins, the fact that cities and hopefully states start calling for one could add just enough pressure to push the Supreme Court to overturn itself. Although a Constitutional Amendment clarifying campaign spending would prevent anything like this happening again in the future.
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