[EL] Cruz op-ed on proposed constitutional amendment

Wed Jun 4 09:48:01 PDT 2014

I would recommend Mark's excellent analysis of the proposed amendment that he did for the Washington Post.  It's a thoughtful argument as to why even those who support regulation should be skeptical of the Udall proposal and argues that there are less drastic methods to achieve the goals the amendment purports to further than rewriting the Bill of Rights.

Bill

Sent from my iPhone

On Jun 4, 2014, at 10:41 AM, "Mark Schmitt" <schmitt.mark at gmail.com<mailto:schmitt.mark at gmail.com>> wrote:

Reid has endorsed the Udall amendment. That seems to be the main one in play right now, vs. the ones that deal with corporate personhood.

113th CONGRESS
1st Session

S.J.RES. 19

Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States relating to contributions and expenditures intended to affect elections

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

June 18, 2013

Mr. UDALL of New Mexico introduced the following bill, which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.

A BILL

Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States relating to contributions and expenditures intended to affect elections.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the following article is proposed as an amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which shall be valid to all intents and purposes as part of the Constitution when ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several States:

Article --

Section 1. To advance the fundamental principle of political equality for all, and to protect the integrity of the legislative and electoral processes, Congress shall have power to regulate the raising and spending of money and in-kind equivalents with respect to Federal elections, including through setting limits on--

(1) the amount of contributions to candidates for nomination for election to, or for election to, Federal office; and

(2) the amount of funds that may be spent by, in support of, or in opposition to such candidates.

Section 2. To advance the fundamental principle of political equality for all, and to protect the integrity of the legislative and electoral processes, each State shall have power to regulate the raising and spending of money and in-kind equivalents with respect to State elections, including through setting limits on--

(1) the amount of contributions to candidates for nomination for election to, or for election to, State office; and

(2) the amount of funds that may be spent by, in support of, or in opposition to such candidates.

Section 3. Nothing in this article shall be construed to grant Congress the power to abridge the freedom of the press.

Section 4. Congress and the States shall have power to implement and enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

Mark Schmitt
202/246-2350
gchat or Skype: schmitt.mark
twitter: mschmitt9

On Wed, Jun 4, 2014 at 10:58 AM, Marty Lederman <lederman.marty at gmail.com<mailto:lederman.marty at gmail.com>> wrote:
What is the language of the hypothetical constitutional amendment that we are supposed to be analyzing?

On Tue, Jun 3, 2014 at 3:02 PM, Sean Parnell <sean at impactpolicymanagement.com<mailto:sean at impactpolicymanagement.com>> wrote:
I believe Rick linked to the op-ed in the Wall Street Journal by Senator Cruz<http://online.wsj.com/articles/ted-cruz-the-democratic-assault-on-the-first-amendment-1401662112> regarding the proposed constitutional amendment that would allow Congress to regulate money spent in politics. There were a handful of examples of what the Senator asserted the proposed amendment would do, I thought it would be interesting to post them and see if anyone here, on any side of the issue, wanted to either support or rebut the assertions. I’d note that the claims made by the Senator largely mirror what I’ve said myself in the past, so you can probably guess my thoughts on these assertions.

If this amendment were adopted, the following would likely be deemed constitutional:

Congress could prohibit the National Rifle Association from distributing voter guides letting citizens know politicians' records on the Second Amendment.

Congress could prohibit the Sierra Club from running political ads criticizing politicians for their environmental policies.

Congress could penalize pro-life (or pro-choice) groups for spending money to urge their views of abortion.

Congress could prohibit labor unions from organizing workers (an in-kind expenditure) to go door to door urging voters to turn out.

Congress could criminalize pastors making efforts to get their parishioners to vote.

Congress could punish bloggers expending any resources to criticize the president.

Congress could ban books, movies (watch out Michael Moore<http://topics.wsj.com/person/M/Michael-Moore/5437> ) and radio programs—anything not deemed "the press"—that might influence upcoming elections.
Anybody care to explain how/why Senator Cruz is wrong, or failing that I suppose, to argue that he’s right but that it’s a good thing these things could be done under the proposed amendment?

Sean Parnell
President
Impact Policy Management, LLC
6411 Caleb Court
Alexandria, VA  22315
571-289-1374<tel:571-289-1374> (c)
sean at impactpolicymanagement.com<mailto:sean at impactpolicymanagement.com>

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