"Almost everyone agrees that there are issues with Citizens United. The question now is just what is the best way to repeal it."

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The Senate Just Might Succeed in Overturning Citizens United
By Tess VandenDolder, September 9, 2014

Late Monday night Senate Democrats received a nice surprise from their Republican colleagues, with a 79 to 18 vote to proceed on debate for a constitutional amendment that would render the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision obsolete.

The 2010 court decision is regarded as a landmark ruling that opened the floodgates for more money in political campaigns. The Supreme Court ruled that corporations could not be limited in the amount of money they spend on political activities, equating money spent on elections as equivalent to the freedom of speech protected in the First Amendment.

"This is tortured logic that leads to an unacceptable result – that a citizen’s access to a constitutional right is dependent on his or her net worth. A result that says the wealthy get to shout, but the rest of you may only whisper," wrote Senator Tom Udall and former Senator Alan Simpson in an op-ed for The Hill. 

The Democrats proposed constitutional amendment would essentially eliminate the pervading legal belief that corporations are the same as people in the eyes of the law. It would strip corporations of the rights afforded individuals in the constitution. If ratified, the amendment would allow Congress to pass further laws restricting the influence corporations can play in politics.

Of course, a constitutional amendment is a bit of a long shot. To pass it would need to be approved by two-thirds of the members in both the House and the Senate, and then be ratified by three quarters of the states in order to be made into law. But public opinion has always been against Citizens United, with a bipartisan swath of 80 percent of the population thinking it should be repealed. In addition, 16 state legislatures have called on Congress to pass a constitutional amendment limiting money in campaigns.

The Senate could vote as early as this week on the amendment, although it will likely take much longer, with both parties stalling to make it a campaign issue. Democrats have used the amendment to point out the influence of well-known Republican benefactors like the Koch brothers, whereas the Republicans are hoping the debate could draw some attention to the lesser known megadonors on the Democratic side.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who has emerged as one of the strongest opponents of campaign finance reform, recently published an op-ed aptly titled "The Democrats Assault on Free Speech," in which he accused Democrats of using the campaign finance debate to eat up precious time in the legislative calendar.

"Not surprisingly, a proposal as bad as the one Senate Democrats are pushing won’t even come close to garnering the votes it would need to pass," McConnell wrote. "But to many Democrats, that’s just the point. They want this proposal to fail because they think that somehow would help them on Election Day — they think it will help drive to the polls more left-wing voters who don’t like having to defend their ideas."

So far this year over $200 million has been spent by outside groups on the 2014 midterm elections, triple what was spent during the last midterms in 2010. There are eight senate races that have seen $10 million in outside spending alone. Regardless of whether or not the current proposed amendment is passed, I think you'll definitely see the issue brought up again, with even broader backing. Almost everyone agrees that there are issues with Citizens United. The question now is just what is the best way to repeal it.
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