FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT:Alliance for Democracy
(http://www.thealliancefordemocray.org)
January 21, 2010
Barbara Clancy, National Office, Waltham, MA,
(781) 894-1179
afd@thealliancefordemocracy.org
Jim Tarbell, California Office, (707) 964-0463
Alliance
for Democracy joins national cry of outrage over U.S. Supreme Court
opinion allowing unlimited corporate money for political campaigns and
affirming the rights of corporations as "persons."
Waltham, MA January 21 - Today's Supreme Court opinion in Citizens United v. the
Federal
Election Commission, a campaign finance law case, opens the floodgates
to allow unlimited corporate spending to influence state and federal
elections and further entrenches corporate power in our nation.
This 5-4 decision overturns previous
Court decisions that limited corporate money in politics. In lifting
the previous federal ban on corporate "independent expenditures," the
court has overridden laws in 22 states banning "independent
expenditures" by corporations and unions. Now corporations can spend
unlimited amounts of money to buy the election results they want and
manipulate politics and policy in their self-interest.
"The Constitution was written to
protect real people, not to give corporations the power to challenge
our fundamental rights and enacted laws," said Nancy Price, Alliance
for Democracy Co-Chair. "With this decision, a business-friendly
Supreme Court majority is further eroding the very basis of our
democracy by allowing corporate money to dominate the political
process. Corporate political speech is a lot louder than that of
ordinary persons. This is a critical time for our democracy and many
are alarmed."
The Alliance welcomes the
observation by Justice Stevens in his dissent with Justices Ginsburg,
Breyer and Sotomayor concurring, that
