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Proposition 59 Pros And Cons

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Grayson Arthur 4A LA Times Editorial Board. "Prop 59: Don't Amend the Constitution over Citizens United." Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles Times, 6 Sept. 2016. Web. . The Supreme Court ruling in 2010 on Citizens United vs. FEC has numerous critics. This ruling holds that corporations have a first amendment right to spend unlimited amounts of money to influence elections. California voters will soon be voting on Proposition 59, which asks if the states should use “all of their constitutional authority, including, but not limited to, proposing and ratifying one or more amendments to the US Constitution.” Looking to the future, the California state legislature has already voted in 2014 to petition Congress to convene a constitutional convention to approve an amendment overturning Citizens United. Proposition 59’s problem is that it has no binding force. Some proponents of this proposition claim that it should “instruct” legislators and members of Congress, but they can completely …show more content…

The first reason is that amending the Constitution is very difficult, and not every injudicious decision justifies the attempt. Citizens United was decided on 6 years ago with a 5-4 majority. It is arguable that this decision could be overturned with a change in the Supreme Court membership. Hillary Clinton openly supports overturning Citizens United, and she could plausibly appoint a judge who could be the deciding vote. The second reason the Editorial Board gives to vote against Proposition 59 is that it doesn’t specify what a constitutional amendment would say. If a constitutional amendment passed, it would “make clear that corporations should not have the same constitutional rights as human beings.” Though this is a very bold statement, it brings up the questions on whether corporations have the right against unreasonable search and seizure, rights of free speech, or due

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