And like Pelosi, he also wants to amend the First Amendment.
(CNSNews.com) — Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) said that the 2010 Supreme Court decision in Citizens United was the “worst” decision since the court upheld racist segregation in Plessy v. Ferguson.
“Citizens United was an outgrowth of this. It is the worst decision since Plessy v. Ferguson — I believe that — of the United States Supreme Court,” Schumer said Wednesday at a conference of Democratic members of Congress and liberal groups focusing on amending the Constitution to repeal Citizens United.
Plessy v. Ferguson is the 1896 case in which the court upheld the constitutionality of racist segregation laws in the states.
Schumer said that Citizens United was an “outgrowth” of an earlier case — Buckley v. Valeo which ruled that Congress could restrict how much money a person gives to a candidate, but not how much of a candidate’s own money can be spent on their campaign.
Schumer said that a constitutional amendment was needed to roll back the free-speech rights expanded by the court since Buckley, particularly the free-speech rights granted to political activist groups by Citizens United.
“This constitutional amendment is a moral, political, and substantive imperative,” he said. “And frankly, if Thomas Jefferson or Alexander Hamilton — both sides of the equation — were looking down on this room, they’d say ‘Go forward, right on,’ because our democracy is being ruined by these decisions.”