Overturn Citizens United

Corporations Are Not People. Money Is Not Speech.

In 2010, the Supreme Court’s Citizens United v. FEC decision unleashed unlimited corporate spending in American elections, fundamentally corrupting our democracy. The ruling held that corporations have the same First Amendment rights as people, allowing them to spend unlimited sums to influence elections through super PACs and dark money groups. Since then, over $2.7 billion flowed through super PACs in the 2024 federal election cycle alone.¹ This is not democracy—it’s an auction where billionaires and corporations purchase political outcomes while ordinary citizens are drowned out.

The consequences are visible in every policy fight: pharmaceutical companies blocking drug price negotiation, fossil fuel interests delaying climate action, Wall Street weakening financial regulations. We have government of, by, and for the highest bidder.

Massachusetts Leads the Fight

Massachusetts has been at the forefront of the movement to overturn Citizens United. In 2012, the state legislature passed a resolution calling for a constitutional amendment, making Massachusetts the seventh state to do so. The state Senate voted 35-1 in a bipartisan show of support, followed by a voice vote in the House.² The resolution was sponsored by State Senator Jamie Eldridge (D-Acton) and State Representative Cory Atkins (D-Concord), with backing from a broad coalition including Common Cause Massachusetts, MassVOTE, MASSPIRG, the Massachusetts Nurses Association, and the League of Women Voters of Massachusetts.²

The grassroots momentum in Massachusetts has been remarkable. Sixty-eight communities—including Boston, Springfield, and Worcester—have voted in favor of a constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United.² In 2018, Massachusetts voters approved Question 2, creating a citizens commission to propose constitutional amendments addressing corporate personhood and political spending.³ The message from Bay State voters is clear: corporations should not have the same rights as people, and money should not equal speech.

The Democracy for All Amendment

Congressman Jim McGovern (MA-02) has been a champion of constitutional reform to overturn Citizens United. He has repeatedly introduced the Democracy for All Amendment, which would restore the ability of Congress and the states to regulate campaign spending and distinguish between natural persons and artificial entities like corporations.⁴

In the 116th Congress, McGovern’s Democracy for All Amendment (H.J.Res. 2) garnered 221 bipartisan cosponsors.⁵ The amendment affirms that:

• The Constitution does not restrict the ability of Congress or states to set reasonable, viewpoint-neutral limitations on campaign contributions and expenditures
• Corporations and other artificial entities do not have the same constitutional rights as natural persons
• The rights protected by the Constitution are the rights of individual human beings

In September 2025, Senator Adam Schiff and Representatives Joe Neguse, Jim McGovern, and Summer Lee introduced the Citizens Over Corporations Amendment, continuing the push for constitutional reform.⁶ As McGovern stated: “Elon Musk poured millions into electing Donald Trump and then used the influence he bought to fire federal workers, dismantle USAID, and strip health care from millions. Citizens United gives billionaires like Musk even more power to rig the system for the well-off and well-connected. That’s not a democracy—it’s an auction.”⁶

The Path Forward

Amending the Constitution is deliberately difficult, requiring two-thirds approval in both the House and Senate, followed by ratification by 38 states. No amendment has been successfully enacted since 1992. But difficult does not mean impossible—and the scale of corruption unleashed by Citizens United demands nothing less than constitutional remedy.

Twenty-three states have now passed resolutions calling for an amendment.⁷ The movement continues to build, driven by Americans across the political spectrum who understand that unlimited corporate money in politics undermines the very foundation of democratic governance. Every election cycle that passes under the Citizens United regime further entrenches corporate power and makes reform more urgent.

Congress must pass the Democracy for All Amendment and send it to the states for ratification. Massachusetts should continue leading by example, demonstrating that voters reject the premise that corporations deserve the same constitutional rights as people. The fight to overturn Citizens United is the fight for democracy itself.

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