On January 21, 2010, with its ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, the Supreme Court ruled that corporations are persons, entitled by the U.S. Constitution to buy elections and run our government. Human beings are people; corporations are legal fictions.
We, the People of the United States of America, reject the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Citizens United and other related cases, and move to amend our Constitution to firmly establish that money is not speech, and that human beings, not corporations, are persons entitled to constitutional rights.
The Supreme Court is misguided in principle, and wrong on the law. In a democracy, the people rule.
". . . corporations have no consciences, no beliefs, no feelings, no thoughts, no desires. Corporations help structure and facilitate the activities of human beings, to be sure, and their 'personhood' often serves as a useful legal fiction. But they are not themselves members of “We the People” by whom and for whom our Constitution was established."
~Supreme Court Justice Stevens, January 2010
Saturday, November 23 | 10am PT / 11am MT / Noon CT / 1pm ET
[2 hour session]
George Friday is one of the original founders of Move to Amend. They work with grassroots community and national organizations providing leadership development and skills training ranging from strategic planning and organizing to fundraising, marketing, and community building. George’s work particularly focuses on communication, oppression, change, and the role of privilege in transforming power dynamics, fostering broad, deep economic and social justice change.
Tara Ingram, a member of MTA's National Board, was born and raised in Northern California and currently lives in Sacramento. She is a psychotherapist and is passionate about meeting each individual where they are and helping them find relief from their suffering. Her education was grounded in a cross-discipline curriculum which included sociology, political liberation theory, and earth-based indigenous healing models.
Jason Bayless is a Board Member of Move to Amend and Democracy Unlimited. He’s a seasoned social justice activist with over two decades of dedicated advocacy for animal rights, farmworker families, and broader systemic change toward a more equitable society. He is also the founder of A Radical Guide (Radical-Guide.com), a comprehensive platform spotlighting radical history, locations, and people devoted to creating transformative social change. His leadership in A Radical Guide has been crucial in building a global network of activists, fostering community-building initiatives, and amplifying the efforts of those striving for liberation and justice.
Greg Coleridge is Co-Director of Move to Amend. He previously worked for more than three decades with the American Friends Service Committee (a Quaker related organization) in Ohio where he educated, advocated and organized on a range of justice, peace, environmental and democracy issues -- including organizing a community-wide gathering of reflection and support following 9/11.
We know that the election results have left many of us processing a whirlwind of emotions.
A second Trump administration brings new challenges, but we at Move to Amend have a reminder for you: we were built for this moment.
Move to Amend began with a vision, well ahead of the January 21, 2010, Citizens United v. FEC decision. Knowing the consequences of such a ruling, we gathered as a community to prepare and to proactively chart a path toward a future free from corporate rule. We believed then—and still do—that together we could create change that would outlast any decision, any election, or any setback.
Now, with the 118th Congressional Session still in progress, there remains crucial work to do. We must continue pushing for the We the People Amendment, H.J.R. 54, and reclaim our government from corporate control. Together, we can still put pressure on Congress, laying the groundwork for a fair and just future—one that no single election can erase.
And, if you need a space to collectively process emotions, join Our Post-Election Conversation this Friday, November 15 at 5 PM ET / 2 PM PT.
In this month's Affiliate Spotlight, we celebrate the Tuscaloosa Move to Amend affiliate group, with special thanks to Kiki Karatheodoris for her contributions. Their recent outreach efforts have led to significant endorsements, and they are actively engaging the community through tabling events. With plans for an unmanned information table at the local library and outreach to the University Democrats, the Tuscaloosa team is setting an inspiring example of grassroots activism.
Read the full story on our website to learn more about our volunteers' incredible efforts and how they helped drive our mission forward.
If you already voted or will tomorrow, you know that elections involve boxes. It may be the box where you drop your ballot outside a Board of Elections headquarters. It might be the 3-sided box stand where you place your ballot to vote in private. Or it could be the secure receptacle where your completed ballot is transported from your voting location to the country Board of Elections for tabulation.
But there’s still another box that involves elections, actually more like the winners of elections. That’s the ever diminishing space elected officials face on all sides to govern, especially if their goal is to genuinely serve the public interest and to ensure a livable natural world.
The U.S. Constitution boxes in the actions of public officials and, for that matter, all of us. It delineates the extent of our democratic space, rights and responsibilities. Its size has expanded when many Constitutional Amendments like abolishing slavery and the poll tax and granting women the right to vote were passed following broad peoples’ movements. The box has also been enlarged following Constitutional interpretations by the Supreme Court.
But other Supreme Court interpretations have vastly decreased our democratic space – the box that was never was very large to begin with since We the People have never included all the people.
Many of those interpretations involved Supreme Court rulings affirming the power and rights of corporations over the power and rights of citizens and workers. Following each Supreme Court decision, our democratic space contracted. The democratic box became smaller.
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Move to Amend is a coalition of hundreds of organizations and hundreds of thousands of individuals committed to social and economic justice, ending corporate rule, and building a vibrant democracy that is genuinely accountable to the people, not corporate interests. We call for an amendment to the US Constitution to unequivocally state that inalienable rights belong to human beings only, and that money is not a form of protected free speech under the First Amendment and can be regulated in political campaigns. Move to Amend © Move to Amend
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