OVERTURN CITIZENS UNITED DECISION

WHEREAS, the U.S. Supreme Court declared in Citizens United that corporations are persons and that corporations cannot be limited in political giving, by a 5-4 vote; and

WHEREAS, the minority members of the Supreme Court strongly objected; and

WHEREAS, Supreme Court Justice Stevens, in January 2010, wrote: “Corporations have no consciences, no beliefs, no feelings, no thoughts and no desires. Corporations help structure and facilitate the activities of human beings, to be sure, and their ‘personhood’ often serves as a useful legal fiction. But they are not themselves members of ‘We the People’ by whom and for whom our Constitution was established”:

RESOLVED, that the American Federation of Teachers and its state and local affiliates will support a constitutional amendment to clarify that “free speech” as envisioned by the framers of the U.S. Constitution, was limited to individuals and groups.