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Vermont Senate Passes Resolution to Overturn Citizens United
United Republic / News Report
Published: Tuesday 17 April 2012
“Vermont joins cities and states across the country in passing the resolution.”
Good news from our friends in the north: the Vermont Senate has approved a resolution which would amend the U.S. Constitution and reverse the Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United decision. That decision helped pave the way for Big Money to have an even larger impact on U.S. elections, essentially by ruling that corporations have a constitutional right to free speech in spending unlimited amounts on campaigns.
Vermont joins cities and states across the country in passing the resolution. Earlier this year, in fact, 64 Vermont towns passed similar declarations in town halls calling on Congress to pass the constitutional amendment.
According to the Burlington Free Press, the resolution passed by the Senate (which heads next to the state House) asks Congress to consider an amendment “that provides that money is not speech and corporations are not persons under the U.S. Constitution and that also affirms the constitutional rights of natural persons.”
The resolution is a result of the hard work of good government groups including Public Citizen, Move to Amend, and local organizations. Public Citizen, in a press release last week, hailed the efforts of legislators including state Sen. Ginny Lyons (D-Williston) who shepherded the resolution to the Senate.
“The passage of the resolution is just one step toward a U.S. constitutional amendment declaring that the rights of natural persons are protected under the Constitution, not corporations, and that money is not speech,” said Lyons, the resolution’s champion. “Vermonters are proud to send this collective message to Congress from towns across the state and from the Vermont Senate.”
Cheers to these activists and politicians — the journey to get money out of politics is getting shorter every day.
The Vermont Senate has given preliminary approval to a resolution to the U.S. Constitution aimed at reversing the U.S Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision of 2010.
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ABOUT Suzanne Merkelson
Suzanne Merkelson is the Associate Web Editor for United Republic, where she curates and comments on the day’s top money-in-politics news. She previously produced web content for Foreign Policy magazine and has written for the Chicago Tribune, Foreign Policy, and The Atlantic, among others.
16 comments on "Vermont Senate Passes Resolution to Overturn Citizens United"
April 17, 2012 6:02pm
The fact that he was born to an American citizen makes him a natural born U.S. citizen. This has been law since 1790. Rather than listen to Limbaugh, Hannity and other extreme liars, just go to the library and study American history which you probably flunkedminhigh school, if you ever went to high school.
April 18, 2012 1:43am
She's a Koch Brother employee.
April 17, 2012 5:22pm
Good for Vermont. I hope the other 49 States will follow her lead. I guess that would be 56 states left to go, if you ask Obama. Pathetic. Even more pathetic, is that the traitor still sits in the White House without being able to prove his Citizenship. And even more pathetic than that, is that all 50 states haven't banded together as a Nation to toss Obama from the 2012 ballot (which granted should not be a state issue to begin with) since he has not proven his citizenship. It gives me hope to see the States standing up for the 'real' people for a change.
April 18, 2012 1:41am
I have some serious questions about Obama -mostly why he behaves almost exactly like a Republican.
But the birth thing is utterly ridiculous. Anyone that questions the presidents birthplace, is, in fact, simply A RACIST.
April 17, 2012 9:29pm
Hey 57 girl,are you from 1757? Most of the country believes Obama was born in a state. Did you know Hawaii is a state? Did you complain when McCain ran? He was born in the Panama Canal Zone-not a state. I guess you will vote for Romney with his muliple houses, cars, overseas accounts, who pays at a tax rate that is half of mine. Do you like it that rich folks are wasting millions on an election?
April 17, 2012 6:05pm
The fact that POTUS was born to an American citizens, no matter what country, makes him a natural born American citizen. This has been law since 1790. Your ignorance and anger are a result of too much Hannity, Limbaugh, Trump and Faux news.
April 17, 2012 3:32pm
You have to love Vermonters -- they reject the assholishness of Roberts, Alito, Scalia, Thomas, & Kennedy and their Citizens United v FEC hatchet job (Kudos to Montanans too!), and they will prosecute the Bush /Cheney war criminals for violating the Geneva Convention and International War Crimes Act if they catch them in Vermont (The only state in the country which said it would do so.).
Proof that maple syrup is healthier and superior than high-fructose corn syrup.
April 18, 2012 6:16pm
To Jeffrey Hill, thanks for an excellent response!
April 17, 2012 3:26pm
I don't know how this crazy piece of legislation got passed in the 1st place! Good for Vermont! That must be the very best state in the whole USA!
I hope other states will follow the lead of Vermont.
I live in a very red state and expect states like Ks. Ok. Arizona and Georgia will fight it tooth and nail. How great it must be to live in a state like Vermont!
April 17, 2012 5:26pm
I don't understand how our leaders, the private bankers, the Corporations, etc., get away with a lot of their BS. It blows me away that Obama is running for re-election, when the majority of the Nation questions his citizenship (and for good reason). I also can't believe that NDAA passed, or that the TSA does strip searches at the airports. And what really amazes me, is that some of our own citizens are stupid enough to think our Government is stripping us of our rights to protect us from terrorists. Newsflash people ... the real terrorists reside in Washington D.C.
April 18, 2012 1:27am
You're an idiot.
April 17, 2012 3:10pm
Gotta love the good people of Vermont and their responsive legislative bodies. They should be worried though...we all might decide to move there.
April 17, 2012 1:15pm
Why is it WHENEVER the media reports on an action of a legislative body, the ONE THING they never include is the actual text of what was passed OR a URL to the text of the resolution or legislation? As a reader, trying to make sense of such actions, it sure would be nice to see this--a link to THOMAS (federal stuff) or similar sources for State and local issues.
April 17, 2012 12:26pm
This project to declare a Supreme Court decision against the Constitution will take 7 years of hard and must get started by each of the 50 States. GOOD LUCKJeff
April 17, 2012 12:25pm
This project to declare a Supreme Court decision against the Constitution will take 7 years of hard and must get started by each of the 50 States. GOOD LUCKJeff
April 17, 2012 12:25pm
This project to declare a Supreme Court decision against the Constitution will take 7 years of hard and must get started by each of the 50 States. GOOD LUCKJeff