January, 21 2015, 10:45am EDT
Five Years After Citizens United: We Need a Constitutional Amendment More Than Ever
U.S. Supreme Court Ruling Brought Out-of-Control Spending, Super PACs, Dark Money Groups
WASHINGTON
Voices across the country are decrying the U.S. Supreme Court's controversial Citizens United decision today at rallies, marches, movie showings and lobby days to mark the ruling's fifth anniversary.
The nationwide events highlight growing momentum for a constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United, which gave corporations and the wealthy the green light to spend unlimited sums to influence elections.
Events included a rally in a downtown park in Washington, D.C., to highlight the biggest dark money spender in the 2014 midterms - the U.S. Chamber of Commerce; a press conference on Capitol Hill in which more than a dozen congressional lawmakers introduced measures designed to curb the influence of money in politics; lobby days in Albany, N.Y., and Olympia, Wash.; and a march in New Hampshire. Other events included showings of the movie "Pay 2 Play" in Tulsa, Okla., and Tucson, Ariz.; a rally at the Savannah, Ga., Chamber of Commerce and a house party in Savage, Minn.
"The American people understand the corruption of the political system and its consequences," said Robert Weissman, president of Public Citizen, which has been pushing for five years for an amendment to overturn Citizens United and spearheaded the Washington, D.C., rally. "Five years after the Supreme Court handed down the abomination known as Citizens United, we know that our country will not be able to address the great challenges it faces - from putting people to work and raising wages to providing health care to all, from reducing wealth inequality to averting catastrophic climate change, and much more - without ending corporate and super-rich dominance of our elections."
Here's what five years since the court ruling has brought:
- Record spending in elections - $4 billion on the 2014 midterms.
- The advent of super PACs, which can raise unlimited sums of money from corporations, unions, associations and individuals.
- The use of dark money groups - trade associations and nonprofit groups set up to funnel money into elections without having to disclose their donors.
- An increase in the use of super PACs and other groups to support a single candidate. Single-candidate super PACs represented 45 percent of all super PACs that spent at least $100,000 during the 2014 election cycle.
- A dramatic increase in the amount of spending by groups not affiliated with campaigns. In 80 percent of competitive 2014 races, outside spenders outspent the candidates -- sometimes by more than double.
Citizens United also brought a positive thing: a grassroots movement that is sweeping the country, demanding the court ruling be overturned with a constitutional amendment. Multiple polls show that the problem of money in politics now is a hot-button issue.
"Americans realize that money in politics is corrosive to democracy, that it enables corporations and the wealthy to drown out the voices of ordinary citizens and makes elected officials more beholden than ever to the outside interests that helped get them elected," Weissman said. Consider:
- Fifty-four U.S. senators voted in the fall to support an amendment.
- More than 5 million people have signed petitions supporting an amendment.
- Sixteen states (PDF) (California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and West Virginia) and the District of Columbia have supported a constitutional amendment. To indicate support, state legislatures either approved a resolution or signed a letter, or voters approved a ballot measure.
- More than 600 cities and towns have backed an amendment.
The constitutional amendment considered last year by the Senate would enable the government to pass laws ending corporate spending on elections, eliminating or curbing outside donations, imposing limits on overall election spending and adopting mandatory systems of small-donor and public financing.
Rallies around the country
Here are some of the key rallies on Jan. 21:
- Washington, D.C.: Hundreds will rally in the park between the White House and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to shine a light on the fact that the Chamber is the biggest secret spender in elections. Speakers will explain how corporate political spending influences a range of issues that affect Americans.
- Albany, New York: Hundreds will rally at the state Capitol and call for New York to support an amendment.
- Augusta, Maine: Hundreds will deliver more than 80,000 petition signatures needed to qualify a clean elections initiative for the ballot.
- Los Angeles: Activists will participate in a March for Democracy from Los Angeles City Hall to the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce and drop a banner over the 110 Freeway at rush hour.
- New York City: The makers of the Pay 2 Play documentary will unravel their street-sized Monopoly board at 3:30 p.m. in front of the New York Stock Exchange.
- San Francisco: A march for democracy will be kicked off by the inspirational Khafre Jay, a hiphop artist for change. Speakers at the rally include Tom Ammiano, San Francisco's inspirational, progressive leader; Gayle McLaughlin, former Richmond mayor who stood up to Chevron and won; David Braun, with Californians Against Fracking; and Bill McKibben, co-founder of 350.org.
- Olympia, Washington: Citizens will hold a lobby day to call for Washington state to support a constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United.
"A constitutional amendment would help to guard the First Amendment rights of all American citizens to be heard in our elections and in government overall," Weissman said. We urge policymakers to support a constitutional amendment to reestablish the core meaning of democracy: rule by the people."
Public Citizen is a nonprofit consumer advocacy organization that champions the public interest in the halls of power. We defend democracy, resist corporate power and work to ensure that government works for the people - not for big corporations. Founded in 1971, we now have 500,000 members and supporters throughout the country.
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Immigration agents are using facial recognition software as "definitive" evidence to determine immigration status and is collecting data from US citizens without their consent. In some cases, agents may detain US citizens, including ones who can provide their birth certificates, if the app says they are in the country illegally.
These are a few of the findings from a series of articles published this past week by 404 Media, which has obtained documents and video evidence showing that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents are using a smartphone app in the field during immigration stops, scanning the faces of people on the street to verify their citizenship.
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While it is not clear what application the agencies are using, 404 previously reported that ICE is using an app called Mobile Fortify that allows ICE to simply point a camera at a person on the street. The photos are then compared with a bank of more than 200 million images and dozens of government databases to determine info about the person, including their name, date of birth, nationality, and information about their immigration status.
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The outlet identified several videos that have been posted to social media of immigration officials using the technology.
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In another video, also in Chicago, agents are shown surrounding a driver, who declines to show his ID. Without asking, one officer points his phone at the man. "I’m an American citizen, so leave me alone,” the driver says. "Alright, we just got to verify that,” the officer responds.
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On Wednesday, ranking member of the House Homeland Security Committee, Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), told 404 that ICE agents will even trust the app's results over a person's government documents.
“ICE officials have told us that an apparent biometric match by Mobile Fortify is a ‘definitive’ determination of a person’s status and that an ICE officer may ignore evidence of American citizenship—including a birth certificate—if the app says the person is an alien,” he said.
This is despite the fact that, as Nathan Freed Wessler, deputy director of the ACLU's Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project, told 404, “face recognition technology is notoriously unreliable, frequently generating false matches and resulting in a number of known wrongful arrests across the country."
Thompson said: "ICE using a mobile biometrics app in ways its developers at CBP never intended or tested is a frightening, repugnant, and unconstitutional attack on Americans’ rights and freedoms.”
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During a press conference this week, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem denied this reality, stating that "no American citizens have been arrested or detained" as part of Trump's "mass deportation" crusade.
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But as DHS's internal document explains, facial recognition software is necessary in the first place because "ICE agents do not know an individual's citizenship at the time of the initial encounter."
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While the judge in Massachusetts, Indira Talwani, ruled that Trump merely had to use the contingency funds to fund as much of the program as possible, McConnell went further, saying that in addition, they had to tap other sources of funding to disburse benefits in full, and do so "as soon as possible." Both judges gave the administration until Monday to provide updates on how it planned to follow the ruling.
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Attorney and activist Miles Mogulescu pointed out in Common Dreams that, "until a few days ago, even the Trump administration agreed that these funds should be used to continue SNAP funding during the shutdown."
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"The president doesn't have the authority to change election procedures just because he wants to."
"The court upheld what we've long known: The president doesn't have the authority to change election procedures just because he wants to," the ACLU said on social media.
Sophia Lin Lakin of the ACLU, a plaintiff in the case, welcomed the decision as “a clear victory for our democracy."
"President Trump’s attempt to impose a documentary proof of citizenship requirement on the federal voter registration form is an unconstitutional power grab," she added.
Campaign Legal Center president Trevor Potter said in a statement: "This federal court ruling reaffirms that no president has the authority to control our election systems and processes. The Constitution gives the states and Congress—not the president—the responsibility and authority to regulate our elections."
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