Posted on 08/30/2012 12:01:02 PM PDT by Sub-Driver
Obama Calls for Amendment Limiting Free-Speech Rights By Matt Cover August 30, 2012
(CNSNews.com) President Barack Obama endorsed a constitutional amendment that would restrict the free-speech rights of political activist groups by overturning the Supreme Court decision in the landmark Citizens United v FEC case that granted First Amendment rights to corporations.
Over the longer term, I think we need to seriously consider mobilizing a constitutional amendment process to overturn Citizens United, Obama wrote during a question and answer session on the website Reddit on Wednesday.
Even if the amendment process falls short, it can shine a spotlight of the super-PAC phenomenon and help apply pressure for change.
In its decision, the Supreme Court said that the government could not restrict the free-speech rights of organizations during elections, striking down key provisions of the McCain-Feingold campaign finance law.
That law restricted how much money independent political organizations could spend and banned them from engaging in election-related speech 60 days prior to a general election.
In his concurring opinion, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote that the government was arguing for direct censorship of political speech, asking the court to allow the banning of books, pamphlets, and any other type of speech the government deemed necessary.
The Government urges us in this case to uphold a direct prohibition on political speech, Roberts wrote. It asks us to embrace a theory of the First Amendment that would allow censorship not only of television and radio broadcasts, but of pamphlets, posters, the Internet, and virtually any other medium that corporations and unions might find useful in expressing their views on matters of public concern.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnsnews.com ...
If Øbozo really wanted this he would just snap his bony fingers and declare it done. It isn’t like he has any use for or respect of the Constitution.
Fine.
There's nothing preventing nobama from fighting fire with fire, is there?
He isn’t going to get it and he knows it. Its just propaganda for his base. Kind of like the gop saying they’ll pass a balanced budget amendment.
IN 2008, the Obama campaign used SuperPacs so effectively, they out-spent the McCain campaign almost 4:1. Not a peep was heard from Obama about those "evil SuperPacs" back then.
Now that Romney is out fund-raising and outspending OBAMA, Obama cries foul!
Those are the clear, undisputed facts of the matter here folks. Obama only cries when he's beaten at his own game. WAAAAAAAA!!!!!
With Judge Roberts now under obamm’s control, this would have no problem clearing the USSC.
The reason I loath McCain...almost as much as Obama
The way to fix campaign finance is to make it 100 % transparent...
No more money to PAC or political bodies to hide donations...
Give any amount to a CANDIDATE and they must report it in 24 hours...don't report a donation...you pay 10 X the donation in fines
Everybody and God will know who is getting what from whom...
True that. And this will never happen anyway. Citizen’s United was the right decision. It helps the right counter the media bias and quite frankly, why shouldn’t more money mean you get louder speech? You got a bigger megaphone!
If they don’t like it, as Scalia says, turn off the tv.
” This is nothing new, the Dems hate citizens united decision. It drives them mad. Obama yelled at the SCOTUS over it at the SOTU. This is just to get lib base donations.”
Yep, just more BS.
What shoddy writing. The courts never "grant" rights to anyone. Rights are never granted, they are in self-evident existence.
Oh, joy! Thank you, Dear Leader! Soon we will all be free of freedom!
Good luck getting 2/3 of each house and 3/4 of state legislatures to go along with that, Barry.
Here is how his stump speech will go: Corporate this. Corporate that. Corporation. Greed. Narrow special interests. Corporate. It won’t pass, but its failure to pass will be a springboard for reviving a phony issue.
“John McCain, as well as Obama, will be happy if Citizens United is overturned.
Actually, the USSC did overturn Citizens United. What Obama wants is limitations on free speech so that Citizens United can be re-enacted.”
You misunderstood me, which means I didn’t make myself clear here. I meant if Obama and his henchmen somehow were able to get a bill passed overturning the USSC’s decision, and it ended up going back through the courts again. Obama and McCain both want this re-litigated or overturned in Congress somehow. They are both on the same side of this issue.
“John McCain, as well as Obama, will be happy if Citizens United is overturned.
Actually, the USSC did overturn Citizens United. What Obama wants is limitations on free speech so that Citizens United can be re-enacted.”
You misunderstood me, which means I didn’t make myself clear here. I meant if Obama and his henchmen somehow were able to get a bill passed overturning the USSC’s decision, and it ended up going back through the courts again. Obama and McCain both want this re-litigated or overturned in Congress somehow. They are both on the same side of this issue.
Designed to cut off the feet of organizations like the NRA and Heritage Foundation.
They don’t have the slightest obligation to prove they’re
“the tolerant ones”, once they’ve convinced enough people, with the help of he MSM, that WE are “the “INtolerant ones”.It’s a process that has been underway for some years, and one they’re still mystifyingly winning.
“Those are the clear, undisputed facts of the matter here folks. Obama only cries when he’s beaten at his own game. WAAAAAAAA!!!!!”
Bears repeating....
Furthermore, let the chump gnaw on some of that government cheese to go with all of his pitiful commie whining.
I don’t agree about limiting free speech but I am seriously hoping OButtwad will be making a lot less speeches on January 21st,2013.
Thank god our founders made it impossible to amend the Constitution..
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.