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A Resolution Concerning The Peoples Rights Amendment to the United States Constitution WHEREAS: President Abraham Lincoln notably remarked in his Gettysburg Address that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth; and, WHEREAS: Freedom of speech is a right exclusive to natural persons, recognized and protected by the First Amendment of the Constitution of the United States; and, WHEREAS: Corporations are not natural persons, but rather legal entities created by governments and granted conditional rights by society through the legislative process of Congress and the States; and, WHEREAS: The Supreme Court has wrongly transformed the meaning of the First Amendment in its five to four ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Elections Commission; and, WHEREAS: The Citizens United decision has allowed for the creation of super political action committees that allow for unregulated election campaign expenditures in unprecedented amounts, and, WHEREAS: This decision invalidates the legislative authority of Congress and the States to restrain corporate spending in elections and thereby restrict the influence of corporate power in our political process; and, WHEREAS: The opinion of the four dissenting justices noted that corporations have certain privileges not enjoyed by natural persons, such as limited liability, perpetual life, and favorable treatment of their accumulation and distribution of assets, which financially enables them to overwhelm individual, natural persons in the political process; and, WHEREAS: Article V of the United States Constitution empowers and the people and states of the United States of America to use the constitutional amendment process to correct those egregiously wrong decisions of the United States Supreme Court that threaten our government of the people, by the people, and for the people. THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED: That the Maryland Student Legislature urges the United States Congress to consider the letter introduced

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by State Senator Jamie Raskin and signed by a majority of the members of the Maryland General Assembly requesting that the United States Congress reverse the Citizens United decision and restore fair elections and democratic sovereignty to the states and to the people. BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED: That the Maryland Student Legislature respectfully requests that the U.S. Congress propose and send to the States for ratification a constitutional amendment to clarify the distinction between the rights of natural persons and the rights of corporations, thereby preserving the power of Congress and the States to place limits on the ability of corporations to influence the outcome of elections. MANDATES: Harry Reid, Majority Leader of the United States Senate 522 Hart Senate Office Building Washington, DC 20510 John Boehner, Speaker of the United States House of Representatives H-232 The Capitol Washington, DC 20515 Thomas V. Mike Miller, President of the Maryland State Senate State House, H-107 Annapolis, Maryland 21401 Michael E. Busch, Speaker of the House of Delegates State House, H-101 Annapolis, Maryland 21401 Jamie Raskin, Member of the Maryland Senate from the 20th District James Senate Office Building, Room 122 11 Bladen St., Annapolis, Maryland 21401

Robert Brooking, Delegation Chairperson University of Maryland, College Park

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