A Constitutional Amendment to Revive the Sovereignty of the American People

In the 45 years since the Supreme Court issued its opinion in Buckley v. Valeo, there has been a steady and persistent erosion of meaningful campaign finance regulation. Dark money now pours into U.S. elections, shattering previous records with each new election cycle.  In the month of October 2020 alone, super PACS and other outside groups spent nearly $1.2 billion on campaign spending, according to Open Secrets.  Yet, a majority of Americans continue to support campaign finance regulations and believe that political donors exercise an outsized influence on elected officials.  A new ACS Issue Brief by Brian Boyle, Counsel at American Promise, lays out the case for a new constitutional amendment designed to “reconfigure the dynamics that have generated elite domination of our democracy, which in turn has generated public cynicism and distrust that produces interlocking political failures best described as ‘popular illegitimacy.’”

Read the Issue Brief.