A majority of Democrats, Republicans, and independent voters throughout the country want to amend the Constitution to nullify the Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United vs. Federal Election Commission. This would return authority to the states to regulate campaign spending and stop the same treatment corporations and other non-human entities have as people. The Citizens United decision has allowed billionaires, large domestic and multinational corporations and foreign governments to spend vast amounts of money legally (and unlawfully in the case of foreign governments) to drown out the voices of the people in both our state and national elections and ballot questions.
In the 2018 general election, over 71 percent of Massachusetts voters supported Question 2, creating a Citizens’ Commission to research, report, and issue recommendations on how to advance a constitutional amendment to undo the political financial corruption spawned by Citizens’ United. It was my privilege and honor to serve as an appointee on the Commission, which met on 20 times across the Commonwealth and released two detailed reports.
In bipartisan partnership with my colleagues in the House and Senate, I have filed and advocated for legislation for Massachusetts to join with other states to pass a Constitutional Amendment to overturn Citizens United.