Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Looking at the Proposed U.S. Constitutional Amendment To Overturn Citizen's United

The Volokh Conspiracy takes a good look at these at three posts that unfortunately have the same title but are really updates on the discussion . See here , here and here.

I am a general fan of Supreme Court case Citizens United which this amendment is designed to overturn. However besides the rather well problematic wording here, this seems to be an rather expansive reach of the Govt power via a Constitution amendment . So I think a rather robust policy discussion about the what if 's should be had as to this.

What strikes me is it seems the assumption there is no value or linkage to the freedom of speech and economic interest.

Imagine this. One lives in a City where because of political connections and resulting regulations a business has a practical monopoly on lets say a taxi business. Could the city move in and say hey you little mom and pop limited Liability company taxi company you can't influence an election on the issue.

In many counties in the USA the places where you can sell beverages of an intoxicating quality is often done by ward where there is also a political dynamic. Will mom and pop Liquor store L.L.C be stopped by local regulations ( that help the established monopoly) from spending money to make it's case to the public ?

One could go on and on about such things.

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