- United States
- Calif.
- Letter
Fifteen years after Citizens United, it's time to act — support a constitutional amendment to reverse this ruling and restore meaningful limits on election spending. The damage is documented and undeniable, and Congress has the power to begin fixing it.
Billionaire spending in the 2024 election cycle topped $2.6 billion — nearly 20% of all federal election spending — with over 80% flowing through channels that didn't exist before Citizens United. Overall billionaire spending has multiplied by a factor of 163 since the ruling. The US has since been downgraded from a "full" to a "flawed" democracy. This isn't a partisan talking point; when the decision came down in 2010, 85% of Democrats, 76% of Republicans, and 81% of independents opposed it.
A constitutional amendment that directly limits election spending amounts and types is the right path forward. Pair that with stronger disclosure requirements so voters can trace dark money back to its original source. The concentrated economic power Citizens United unleashed won't fix itself — it takes the kind of coordinated legislative effort that created this problem in the first place.