Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that Congress should confirm that money is not free speech and that corporations are not people for purposes of the First Amendment right to make campaign contributions by enacting a constitutional amendment overturning the decision of the Supreme Court in the case of Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, and should restore the right of Congress and the States to impose limits on the amount of expenditures that may be made by candidates and others in support of elections for public office by enacting a constitutional amendment overturning the decision of the Supreme Court in the case of Buckley v. Valeo.

Bill: 115-hres-377
Sponsor: full_name: Rep. Nolan, Richard M. [D-MN-8]
Introduced: 2017-06-07
Policy area: Government Operations and Politics
Subjects: Constitution and constitutional amendments

Corporate finance and management

Elections, voting, political campaign regulation

First Amendment rights

Supreme Court
Latest action: action_date: 2017-07-11
text: Referred to the Subcommittee on the Constitution and Civil Justice.

Summaries:
action_date: 2017-06-07
action_desc: Introduced in House
text: <p>Expresses the sense of the House of Representatives that Congress should enact and states should ratify constitutional amendments to overturn the Supreme Court's decisions in <i>Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission</i> and <i>Buckley v. Valeo</i>, which both concern spending in federal elections. </p>

tv_txt: IV 115th CONGRESS 1st Session H. RES. 377 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES June 7, 2017 Mr. Nolan submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary RESOLUTION Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that Congress should confirm that money is not free speech and that corporations are not people for purposes of the First Amendment right to make campaign contributions by enacting a constitutional amendment overturning the decision of the Supreme Court in the case of Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, and should restore the right of Congress and the States to impose limits on the amount of expenditures that may be made by candidates and others in support of elections for public office by enacting a constitutional amendment overturning the decision of the Supreme Court in the case of Buckley v. Valeo.

1. Constitutional amendment to overturn citizens united decision and corporate citizenship for purposes of political activity It is the sense of the House of Representatives that, in order to overturn the decision of the Supreme Court in the case of Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission (558 U.S. 310), Congress should enact and the States should ratify a constitutional amendment providing that any right of a corporation, other business organization, or other artificial entity to engage in political activity, including the making of contributions and expenditures for the purpose of influencing an election for public office or a ballot measure, is not derived from the First Amendment but from the laws of the United States and the States, and may be exercised only to the extent provided by such laws. 2. Constitutional amendment to overturn Buckley decision It is the sense of the House of Representatives that, in order to overturn the decision of the Supreme Court in the case of Buckley v. Valeo (424 U.S. 1), Congress should enact and the States should ratify a constitutional amendment providing that Congress and the States have the authority to impose limits on the amount of expenditures that may be made by candidates and others in support of elections for public office.