skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Thursday, March 28, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Pulling back the curtains on wage-theft enforcement in MN; Trump's latest attack is on RFK, Jr; NM LGBTQ+ equality group endorses 2024 'Rock Star' candidates; Michigan's youth justice reforms: Expanded diversion, no fees.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says rebuilding Baltimore's Key Bridge will be challenging and expensive. An Alabama Democrat flips a state legislature seat and former Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman dies at 82.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Group Working to Undo Citizens United

play audio
Play

Monday, July 9, 2012   

CHARLESTON, W.Va. - According to people working to undo Citizens United, that Supreme Court decision giving corporations the right to make unlimited political contributions is so unpopular that it won't be the law of the land much longer. The group Move to Amend says corporations should not have the same constitutional rights - including free speech - as individuals.

Spokesman Dave Cobb, a member of the Move To Amend national leadership team, says polls have found that 80 percent of Americans across the political spectrum feel the same way.

"Whether they're a Democrat, a Republican, an Independent, a Green, a Libertarian, this is not just an issue. This is a principle about how our government is supposed to operate."

In "Citizens United vs. The Federal Election Commission," the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the government could not limit corporate and union political spending, because buying ads is a form of free speech. Separate rulings had found that corporations have many of the same constitutional rights as individuals, including free speech. The court decisions mean super-PACs (Political Action Committees) are able to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on attack ads this election.

Cobb says the decision is gut-level offensive to people. When his group puts forward a constitutional amendment to address it, he says, people will respond.

"We put it on the ballot, it passes by 70, 75, 84 percent of the vote. There is no doubt that Citizens United is not going to be the law of the land within 10 years."

Cobb says corporations can have privileges, but never the same rights as people. However, he notes that courts have overturned numerous laws because they violate the rights of corporations.

"The only time I believe the courts should actually overturn a democratically enacted law is if that law actually violates the rights of a living, breathing human being."

Cobb has traveled around the country for the last year and a half talking about the issue. He was in Charleston on Friday. He says he has never seen a court ruling that offends so many people so deeply, which is why he expects it to be changed - one way or another.

More information is available at www.movetoamend.org.



get more stories like this via email

more stories
A report from the Tennessee HealthCare Campaign recommended the federal government needs to strengthen 340B drug pricing and other federal negotiation mechanisms to make needed medicines more readily available and less expensive for hospitals to purchase and administer. (Spotmatikphoto/AdobeStock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

A recent report examined how some rural Tennessee hospitals have managed to stay afloat despite financial challenges. The report includes interviews …


Social Issues

play sound

Earlier this month, a new Arizona Public Service rate hike went into effect and one senior advocacy group said those on a fixed income may struggle …

Social Issues

play sound

Michigan recently implemented a significant juvenile justice reform package following recommendations from a task force made up of prosecutors…


Nearly 13 million Americans receive health coverage through unique plans under both Medicare and Medicaid. They are known as Dual-Eligible Special Needs Plans. (Adobe Stock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

Medicare and Medicaid are key sources of health coverage for many Americans and some people qualify for assistance under both programs. With lagging …

Social Issues

play sound

A mix of policy updates and staffing boosts has helped to put wage theft enforcement on the radar in Minnesota, and officials leading the efforts are …

More than six in 10 Americans favor keeping the abortion pill mifepristone available in the U.S. as a prescription drug, while over a third are opposed, according to a Gallup poll. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

New research shows more than six in 10 abortions in the U.S. last year were medically induced, and U.S. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto - D-NV - is …

Social Issues

play sound

Colorado is working to boost the state's agricultural communities by getting more fresh, nutritious foods into school cafeterias - and a new online …

Social Issues

play sound

Missouri lawmakers are concerned with protecting people from the potential risks of the increasing accessibility of AI-generated images and videos…

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021