Reasonable minds can differ on the wisdom, outcome and impact of the Citizens United ruling. But we argued that using this decision as an impetus to use the constitutional amendment process to restrict, rather than expand, our Bill of Rights would be a terrible mistake. For these reasons we strongly opposed a resolution which calls on our Congressional delegates to support adoption of a federal constitutional amendment designed to overturn the U.S. Supreme Court’s controversial decision in the Citizens United campaign finance case by declaring that the rights protected by the Constitution “are the rights of natural persons only.” In opposing the bill, we also noted that this proposed amendment would have a devastating impact on advocacy organizations like the ACLU itself, which are often organized as corporations and have had their First Amendment rights protected, as organizations, through critical court cases. This resolution died in committee.
