Demonstrators at Civic Center Park in downtown Denver respond to the April 1, 2014 McCutcheon vs. FEC ruling. photos: Tiburcia Vidal/The Nation Report
DENVER-In 138 cities around the country, gatherings took place to oppose yesterday’s announcement of the Supreme Court decision in McCutcheon vs. the Federal Elections Commission. Central to that announcement was the withdrawal of previous limits in federal law on the overall campaign contributions that a donor may make to candidates, political parties and political action committees or PACs although Super PACs are not subject to limits on how much money they can accept from donors.
Previously, limits for individual donations to parties, (PACS) and federal candidates were set at $123,000 including a $48,600 limit on what individuals can give to candidates in a two-year election cycle set after the Watergate campaign finance reforms of 1974. Those reforms followed the Federal Election Campaign Act FECA that was first passed in 1971 setting aggregate limits on the direct contributions that individuals can donate to national political parties and federally elected candidates in a calendar year. These limits were first challenged in 1976 however the court maintained the constitutionality of the limits in response.
After yesterday’s McCutcheon ruling, total contributions are now allowed above $7 million meaning that a single contributor is no longer subject to caps on how many candidates and party committees that the individual can support in a given election cycle. However, the ruling maintains the federal campaign limits that restrict how much a donor can give to any one political candidate’s campaign or to any one party committee at $2,600 per election and 18 political candidates (assuming the maximum contribution).
Chief Justice John Roberts wrote about yesterday’s decision, “The government may no more restrict how many candidates or causes a donor may support than it may tell a newspaper how many candidates it may endorse.”
But just in Colorado, opposition to the decision led to actions that took place in Denver, Golden, Durango, and in the tiny town of Calhan, Colorado. In Denver, the demonstration began at Civic Center Park across from the Capitol. Demonstrators said that they were mourning the death of democracy, civil liberties, immigration reform, women’s health, the right to vote, and having a home as they chanted, “Hey hey, ho ho, corporate rule has got to go.”
Laura Avant, an organizer with Move On responded to yesterday’s decision with a speech ridiculing the new limits,
“Starting today, I can give $6 million. But it’s a free country. We can all give $6 million. What? You don’t have $6 million? Well I do. Too bad for you. So, rest in peace, democracy. They say money can’t buy happiness. Today it can buy whatever I want. In 1886 my cousin’s best friend, Southern Pacific Railroad got the Supreme Court to say that the 14th Amendment grants to corporations the right of due process and equal protection. And in 1889 the Supreme Court confirmed those rights for Minneapolis vs. St. Louis Railway Company. This was the first true blow to democracy and a touching moment for corporations to remember.”
The same five justices who supported the highly contested 2010 Citizens United ruling John Roberts, Antonin Scalia, Anthony Kennedy, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito were mocked at yesterday’s Denver demonstration with caricatures of their faces. Character Justice John Roberts talked to The Nation Report about his vote,
“We voted to allow more money into politics. We said campaign finance limits aren’t any good. We have to let people spend as much as they want to so that they can buy elections. Why we did that? You know, it’s just my style. I think people should be able to put as much money into politics as they can so that they can buy whatever they want. Money is good. Money is good.”
The court determined on April 1,2014 that aggregate limits on the amount donors may contribute to candidates for federal office, political parties, and political action committees (PACS) are invalid under the First Amendment because they “limit free speech without serving a legitimate government interest.” This is contrary to longstanding contribution bans in place since the 1970’s. The intention of original supporters of placing limits said that such limits would curb the outward implication of corruption however current appellant Shaun McCutcheon with support from the Republican National Party said that the limits have not kept up with inflation and in addition violated his free speech. McCutcheon, an Alabama businessman and electrical engineer from Birmingham and supporter of the Republican Party, donated to 16 congressional candidates in the 2012 election. He said that he wanted to give more money but couldn’t because of current limits. He first took his case to district court but on September 28, 2012, the U.S. District Court granted the FEC’s motion to dismiss thereby maintaining the aggregate limits. He then continued to the US Supreme Court.
Participants in today’s actions agreed with the limits. Their signs read, “BRIBERY OUT, VOTERS IN” and “THE ROAD TO HELL IS PAVED WITH CORPORATE DONATIONS.” Organizers began the rally at Civic Center Park in downtown Denver, marched down the 16th Street Mall and then to the Federal Court of Appeals Byron White Courthouse building at 18th and Stout. Marchers of the “funeral procession” carried signs, banners, and wore black and black veils over their faces. Six marchers carried a coffin that bore the sign “DEATH OF OUR DEMOCRACY.”
Steven Justino, Denver Chapter Director of Move to Amend said in a speech to participants,
“The Supreme Court of the United States of America has opened the flood gates once again, this time to allow private individuals to purchase the outcome of elections. This decision shows how fatally flawed the Court’s approach to money and politics has become. It will do incalculable harm to our democracy allowing millions of dollars to flow. This decision will lead to even further domination of our politics and public policy by the economic elite pushing ordinary Americans like us, further out of the political process.”
In response to yesterday’s McCutcheon vs FEC decision The Center for Media and Democracy and its allies report in a press release having sent a letter to Congress today calling for a constitutional amendment to get money out of politics signed by local organizations including many who were at yesterday’s Denver demonstration.
Avant concluded, “We are not going to give up. We are going to demand some form of democracy. Overturn Citizens United!”
Refufia Gaintan/The Nation Report
