

TRENTON — New Jersey has joined a number of states in pushing back against the Supreme Court's 2010 Citizens United decision, which allowed corporations to spend unlimited sums of money on political causes.

An Assembly resolution passed Thursday (AR86) calls on Congress to amend the U.S. Constitution to say that, "with regard to corporation campaign spending, a person means only a natural person for First Amendment protection of free speech."

The Citizens United decision ruled that corporations, labor unions and other organizations have the same First Amendment rights as individual citizens, and because money is how these groups can make their views known, limiting their spending would be akin to limiting their free speech.

The legislature passed the resolution 49 to 23, with six abstentions and two members not voting. Earlier this month, the state Senate passed an identical resolution.

Shortly after the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Citizens United, a lower court decision paved the way for super PACs. These independent funding groups, which can raise unlimited amounts from individuals, are not technically allowed to align themselves with a candidate, though their allegiances are usually obvious.

With less than three weeks remaining in this presidential election cycle, Republican-aligned PACs have greatly outraised their Democratic counterparts. In total, independent expenditures this election have topped $800 million, according to the Sunlight Foundation.

The five largest GOP groups have spent more than $210 million, led by the Restore Our Future super PAC, which has spend $97 million. Democrats' five largest groups combined for a total of $57 million spent, mostly from the Obama-backing super PAC Priorities USA Action, which is responsible for $47 million in spending.

Common Cause, a nonprofit advocacy group that lobbies for open and accountable government, was involved in the New Jersey resolution, along with groups Public Citizen and NJ for the Overturn of Citizens United.

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"Common Cause is working across the country to help voters be heard over the cacophony of big money drowning out our voices," said the group's president, Bob Edgar. "We applaud New Jersey for standing up for democracy and urge other states to follow suit."

The group said they have similar measures on ballots in Montana, Colorado, San Francisco, and Chicago.

New Jersey's efforts in rejecting this campaign finance model follow on a number of other states that have already passed similar resolutions, according to the Huffington Post. California, Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, Hawaii, New Mexico, Rhode Island and Vermont have also called for a Constitutional amendment.

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