Daily Archives: May 16, 2014

David Allen Legal Tuesday: Flashing Automobile Lights and the First Amendment
Michael Elli drove his vehicle through a speed trap. He warned an oncoming vehicle of the speed trap by flashing his lights. The Missouri town in which this occurred had an ordinance which...

By: David Allen

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David Allen Legal Tuesday: Flashing Automobile Lights and the First Amendment - Video

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid wholeheartedly endorsed a constitutional amendment to limit campaign spending on Thursday, putting the Senate on course to vote on the matter as early as July.

Reid said that the Senate Judiciary Committee will take up the amendment on June 3, which allows Congress and the states to limit fundraising and spending on federal campaigns and gives lawmakers the ability to regulate outside groups. From there, the amendment will go to the Senate floor, where it has little chance of passing due to broad GOP opposition to meddling with campaign finance laws.

But Democrats believe the failed vote on the amendment, which needs the backing of 67 senators, will still pay dividends in the run-up to the midterm elections, painting Republicans as supporters of big money in politics and Democrats as on the side of ordinary voters.

(On POLITICO Magazine: Democrats have a Koch problem)

Let me pose a question to everyone, including my friend the Republican Leader [Mitch McConnell]. If this unprecedented spending is free speech, where does that leave our middle-class constituents? The poor? Reid said Thursday morning. It leaves them out in the cold. How could everyday working families afford to make their voices heard if money equals free speech?

Republicans quickly rebutted Reid, accusing him of moving to limit Americans First Amendment rights.

Todays proposal by the Senate Majority Leader represents an all-out assault on the right to free speech, a right which undergirds all others in our democracy. Its also a clear sign of just how desperate elected Washington Democrats have become in their quest to hold onto power, said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).

Washington Democrats have shown again and again how determined they are to shut down the voices of anyone who disagrees with them, whether its targeting groups through the IRS or looking over the shoulders of reporters at local newspapers and on news radio. But this latest proposal goes beyond everything theyve attempted previously.

(Also on POLITICO: American Bridge starts Koch project)

Even John McCain, a previous supporter of campaign finance reform, said in an interview that he will vote against the amendment, calling it as exercise in hypocrisy for Democrats.

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Reid backs campaign spending limit

David Koch (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack, File)

Congressional Democrats escalated their fight against the Koch Brothers and other megadonors to political campaigns on Thursday, calling anew for a constitutional amendment to reverse recent Supreme Court campaign-finance decisions and setting a date for a hearing.

Majority Leader Harry Reid announced plans Thursday to hold floor votes on legislation that would grant Congress the authority to regulate and limit the raising and spending of money for federal political campaigns.

The idea was blasted immediately by Republicans, underlining how unlikely it is that the proposal could succeed. The amendment idea was first introduced by Sen. TomUdall of New Mexico. After Reids announcement, Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Patrick Leahy of Vermont announced there would be a hearing on the legislation on June 3.

The announcements follows the courts recent McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission decision, which declared aggregate limits on campaign contributions in elections to be unconstitutional in violation of the First Amendment. Coupled with the Citizens United decisionof 2010, Leahy and Reid said Congress must respond.

The Court has repeatedly used the First Amendment not to protect the voices of all Americans, but as an instrument to amplify the voices of billionaires and corporations, Leahy said in a statement Thursday. Those voices are not the only ones who the Founding Fathers intended the First Amendment to protect. They meant for the First Amendment to protect the voices of all Americans.

The constitutional amendment seems more of a partisan show than a realistic proposal. A hearing on the idea last month revealed how deep the partisan divide has become since the days when a Republican senator, John McCain of Arizona, teamed up with a Democrat, former Sen. Russ Feingold of Wisconsin, to propose broad campaign finance reforms.

The reaction to the amendment idea in a recent Senate Rules Committee hearing revealed the depth of the partisan divide.In a statement released Thursday, Senates Minority Leader Mitch McConnell called the Democrats' proposal an all-out assault on the right to free speech, a right which undergirds all others in our democracy.Its also a clear sign of just how desperate elected Washington Democrats have become in their quest to hold onto power.

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Dems threaten Kochs with a constitutional amendment