Clinton to announce plan to overturn Citizens United

[TomCADem]

Source: MSN/CBS News

Doubling down on a key campaign pledge to take big money out of politics, Hillary Clinton will announce Saturday that she intends to back a constitutional amendment overturning Citizens United, the 2010 Supreme Court decision that made way for unlimited corporate spending in elections.

In a video address Saturday to the progressive Netroots Nation conference in St. Louis, Clinton is set to promise that she would introduce the amendment within "the first 30 days" in the White House, according to Clinton campaign official.

The proposed change is expected to protect against the outsized influence of the billionaire class in U.S. political system.

During the primary campaign season, reversing the Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission (FEC) decision -- in which the Supreme Court declared political donations from corporations were a form of protected speech -- was a bedrock platform of Clinton's rival, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.


Read more: http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/clinton-to-announce-plan-to-overturn-citizens-united/ar-BBuoYLc?ocid=iehp

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I guess it would be a bit awkward to simply say that you are going to nominate a Supreme Court justice who will commit to overturning Citizens United. Of course, even if Citizens United is over turned, Congress would still need to pass a campaign finance law.

[cstanleytech]

1. I wonder if the Republicans will reconsider Merrick now because if they dont confirm him

then the ball is in Hillarys court and her choices might actually be far more liberal than Merrick.

[christx30]

2. At this point I hope they do hold out

until January. Hell, it's just a few months, and most of the decisions have been going our way anyway. Then we just need Hillary to nominate someone good, and someone with the flu to rudely sneeze a few times near Thomas (sorry, not sorry) and we can get some sanity back to elections.

[2naSalit]

3. I suspect that

with Hillary in office there may be one or two retirement announcements to follow the inauguration.

[Midnight Writer]

5. i suspect that if Hillary wins, there will be a lame duck firestorm of legislation.

Especially since I believe if she wins the Presidency, Democrats will also control the Senate and maybe, maybe, please Lord, even the House.

Hopefully, Obama will sort through it all and take the good and veto the bad.

[mdbl]

7. hopefully he'll veto anything the whacked out right wing sends to him

[mahina]

4. This welcomed news underscores my main question to any trumpist.

* How * does he plan to do any of the thousand things he says he will do?

Hillary understands *how* to get work done in DC.

Trump understands how to talk to stupid people.

[andym]

6. Good news

Sure, it's unlikely that an amendment can be advanced given how much gop control there is in state legislatures and congress, but this is a great way to keep the issue out in front of the public.
The same can be said of much of the democratic platform, it's unlikely to get past a GOP House, but the issues need to be kept in the public's eye. I am glad to hear Mrs Clinton embracing such key issues.

[Lucky Luciano]

8. Great. If she fights for this throughout her presidency,

...then win or lose this battle, I will be much happier about voting for her.

[skepticscott]

9. Utterly false statement about CU

in which the Supreme Court declared political donations from corporations were a form of protected speech.

Baloney. The decision said that independent political spending by corporations and other organizations cannot be restricted by the government. The decision was NOT about campaign contributions. It was about what organizations are allowed to do with their own money.

As far as overturning it, Hillary is just tossing out the same red meat to her followers that Bernie Sanders was when he made similar promises. But the reality is that she can't do much of anything along those lines. A constitutional amendment to change things would have to be approved by 2/3 of both Houses of Congress and then by 3/4 of the state legislatures. In other words, by majorities of the people benefitting most from the current system. Good luck with that, Hillary.

On top of this, the extreme focus on this one limited decision has obscured the fact that our system of campaign finance was a morass of corruption long before Citizens United. CU is only one little twig on a very twisted tree. Going to all the trouble of a Constitutional amendment to prune that one twig is a ridiculous waste of political resources. The tree needs to be ripped out at the roots.