On Saturday, presumptive Democratic Presidential nominee Hillary Clinton took a strong stance against the Citizens United decision and current campaign finance rules, The Hill reported. In a video segment recorded for the progressive Netroots Nation conference, Clinton announced that if she is elected, “in my first 30 days as president, I will propose a constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United and give the American people — all of us — the chance to reclaim our democracy.”
Clinton also told her audience that she will appoint justices to the Supreme Court who are against the Citizens United decision, which allowed for the creation of super PACs, which can collect and spend unlimited political dollars, as long as they don’t coordinate with any candidate. The Supreme Court’s reasoning in their decision is that political spending is a form of free speech that is protected by the First Amendment, even when the spending is done by an organization like a super PAC and not an individual person. Clinton called the decision “a disaster for our democracy.”
Clinton also vowed to take measures to promote transparency in political spending. She stated that she will “promote SEC rulemaking requiring publicly traded companies to disclose all political spending to their shareholders” and will pass an “executive order requiring federal government contractors to fully disclose all political spending.”
This echoes much of what her former rival, Senator Bernie Sanders said in his Presidential campaign. Sanders, who prided himself on raising much of his campaign funds from small, individual donations, railed against the current practice of benefiting from super PACs. Sanders recently gave his endorsement to Clinton, who recognized that many in attendance at the Netroots Nation were Sanders supporters. “I know that many of the people in this room supported Sen. Sanders in the primary,” Clinton said. “I’m looking forward to hearing from you, learning from you, and working with you.”
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