Justice Stevens Proposed Campaign Finance Amendment

Below is a 2.5 minute video clip of retired Supreme Court Justice Stevens proposal to amend constitution relating to Campaign finance. Ask your senator and congressman to support the amendment.

Below are the five points Judge Stevens discusses as summarized from the SCOTUSblog

1. The Court’s campaign finance beliefs now provide that the only justification for regulating campaign speech and campaign financing is to avoid corruption or the appearance of corruption, is quite wrong.  There is another way to protect against misconduct by elected officials – bribery laws.
2. "“all elected officials would lead happier lives and be better able to perform their public responsibilities if they did not have to spend so much time raising money.”
3. Stevens urged members of Congress to enact campaign finance regulations that distinguish between money provided by constituents and others, such as corporations and individuals who live elsewhere.
4. Although money is used to finance speech, it is not  itself speech.  Campaign contributions finance speech, but they also finance lots of other activities.  After all, he observed, the Watergate burglaries – “actions that clearly were not protected by the First Amendment” – were financed with campaign funds.
5. The risk that candidates, once elected, will pay more attention to the interests of non-voters than those of their constituents is, he concluded, “unacceptable.”