Feb 28, 2012 - WHEREAS, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black in a 1938 opinion stated, "I do not believe the word 'pers
21 Jesse Arreguín Councilmember, District 4
CONSENT CALENDAR February28, 2012 To:
Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
From:
Councilmember Jesse Arreguin
Subject:
Amend the Constitution to End Corporate Personhood
RECOMMENDATION: Adopt a Resolution urging our federal representatives to amend the constitution to end corporate personhood. BACKGROUND: Corporate personhood commonly refers to the Supreme Court-created notion of corporations enjoying constitutional rights that were intended solely for human beings, such as freedom of speech. As a result of decades of rulings furthering that notion, Corporations today are granted privileges that enable them to have undue influence over our elections and legislative process, culminating in the 2010 U.S. Supreme Court decision, Citizens United vs. the Federal Election Commission, which allowed corporations to spend unlimited money on behalf of candidates on First Amendment grounds. FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS: None. CONTACT PERSON: Jesse Arreguin, Councilmember, District 4
981-7140
Attachment: 1. Resolution
2180 Milvia Street, Berkeley, CA 94704 ● Tel: (510) 981-7140 ● TDD: (510) 981-6903 ● Fax: (510) 981-7144 E-Mail:
[email protected]
RESOLUTION NO. URGING OUR FEDERAL RESPRESENTATIVES TO AMEND THE CONSTITUTION TO END CORPORATE PERSONHOOD WHEREAS, the U.S. Supreme Court's 5-4 ruling in Citizens United v. the Federal Election Commission rolled back legal restrictions on corporate spending in the electoral process, allowing unlimited corporate spending to influence elections, candidate selection, and policy decisions, thereby threatening the voices of "We the People" and the very foundation of our democracy; and WHEREAS, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black in a 1938 opinion stated, "I do not believe the word 'person' in the Fourteenth Amendment includes corporations"; and WHEREAS, the Citizens decision supersedes state and local efforts to regulate corporate activity in their elections; NOW THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the Council of the City of Berkeley that it hereby stands with communities across the country to defend democracy from the corrupting effects of undue corporate power by amending the United States Constitution to establish that: 1. Only human beings, not corporations, are endowed with constitutional rights, and 2. Money is not speech, and therefore regulating political contributions and spending is not equivalent to limiting political speech. BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this resolution be sent to Congresswoman Barbara Lee, and Senators Barbara Boxer and Diane Feinstein.
