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Press Release
Jan 16, 2012
The Corvallis Area Move to Amend (CAMTA) organization is an affiliate of the national Move to Amend coalition, which calls for a constitutional amendment that stipulates that only people, not corporations, have constitutional rights, and that money is not speech. CAMTA has chartered a bus to help transport its members and friends to Eugene to participate in the national Occupy the Courts protest on Friday, Jan 20.
This date is the closest business day to the second-year anniversary of the Citizens United v. Federal Elections Commission decision by the U. S. Supreme Court, which struck down the McCain-Feingold Campaign Finance Reform legislation and allowed unlimited funds to be channeled into the political process for elections by so-called “Super-PACs.”
The legal definition of corporations as people began with a Supreme Court decision in 1886, and has grown more and more accepted in its decisions since then. Money was classified as speech by the Supreme Court in the Buckley v. Valeo decision in 1976.
The Occupy the Courts protest is focused on the federal courts, which is why CAMTA is going to join the Occupy the Courts protest in Eugene at the Wayne L. Morse Free Speech Plaza. The protest starts with a rally at 11:00 a.m. and a march to the Wayne L. Morse U.S. Courthouse, 405 E. Eighth Avenue, at noon. The CAMTA bus will begin loading at 8:45 a.m. and will return between 3:00 and 3:30 p.m. For more information, see the CAMTA website, http://movetoamendcorvallis.info.
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