Move to Amend

Move to Amend is a United States-based, nonpartisan grassroots advocacy organization focused on reducing the political power of corporations and wealthy interests through constitutional change. Its central proposal is the “We the People Amendment,” which would establish that constitutional rights belong to natural persons rather than artificial entities such as corporations and would clarify that spending money in elections is not itself protected speech. The campaign presents these changes as a response to what it regards as the excessive influence of corporate and wealthy interests over democratic institutions. The organization emerged in 2010 after the United States Supreme Court decided Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. That ruling held that corporations could use general treasury funds for independent political expenditures supporting or opposing candidates, treating such spending as protected by the First Amendment. Move to Amend’s organizers argued that the decision expanded the political role of corporations and amplified the influence of wealthy donors. The campaign grew out of earlier work by organizations including the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, the Program on Corporations, Law and Democracy, and Democracy Unlimited of Humboldt County, whose representatives had participated in public-interest advocacy surrounding the case. Rather than operating as a conventional commercial brand, Move to Amend functions as a national campaign and organizing network. Its work combines constitutional advocacy, public education, local coalition building, lobbying, election-related outreach, and support for municipal and state resolutions. Local affiliates encourage city councils, county governments, voters, faith communities, and other civic bodies to endorse the proposed amendment. Some local initiatives also use “Democracy Day” public hearings to examine how corporate and campaign influence affects communities and local government. The organization’s amendment language has been promoted through resolutions and ballot initiatives across the country. Reference material reports that, by November 2023, more than 840 local governments and 22 states had adopted resolutions or ordinances supporting a constitutional amendment addressing the Citizens United decision. More than 300 resolutions were approved directly by voters, including statewide ballot measures in Colorado, Montana, California, and Washington. These actions are generally symbolic and do not themselves amend the federal Constitution, but Move to Amend treats them as tools for public mobilization and pressure on elected officials. Examples of local activity include the Los Angeles City Council’s unanimous 2011 vote supporting an end to constitutional rights for corporations, and municipal and voter-led actions in Ohio communities including Cleveland and Toledo. In Wisconsin, the partner network Wisconsin United to Amend reported that 170 municipalities had adopted supporting resolutions by 2023, representing approximately 3.5 million residents; the network also reported resolutions from 10 faith congregations. The campaign therefore operates through a combination of national messaging and locally tailored organizing. Move to Amend’s principal policy objective is the proposed We the People Amendment, identified in the reference material as H.J.Res. 54 in Congress. The proposal would reserve constitutional rights for natural persons, permit regulation and disclosure of election spending, and reject the premise that money used in political campaigns is equivalent to speech. The organization remains an advocacy movement rather than a consumer-facing product business. Its main offerings are educational materials, organizing support, campaign coordination, public events, and opportunities for local groups to endorse or advance the amendment.

Move to Amend developed from public-interest organizing around the constitutional issues raised by corporate political spending. In 2009, organizations including the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, the Program on Corporations, Law and Democracy, and Democracy Unlimited of Humboldt County submitted an amicus brief in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. The brief challenged the legal expansion of corporate constitutional protections and argued against treating corporations as equivalent to human beings for constitutional purposes. The Supreme Court ruled in January 2010 that corporations could make independent political expenditures from their general treasuries. The decision was widely understood by its critics as allowing corporations and other wealthy interests to exert greater influence over elections. Organizers and attorneys connected with the earlier advocacy effort subsequently launched Move to Amend as a national campaign seeking to overturn the decision through a constitutional amendment rather than relying only on statutory regulation or judicial reversal. The campaign’s proposed constitutional text became known as the We the People Amendment. Its core principles are that constitutional rights are reserved for natural persons, that corporations do not possess the same constitutional rights as human beings, and that money spent in elections is not speech. The proposal also supports regulation and disclosure of political spending. Move to Amend has promoted these principles through national education and through local campaigns designed to build political support from the bottom up. A major feature of the organization’s strategy has been the adoption of resolutions and ordinances by municipalities, counties, states, voters, and civic organizations. These measures generally call on state and federal representatives to support a constitutional amendment. Some communities have also organized Democracy Day hearings, which provide a public forum for discussing the effects of corporate influence and campaign spending on local democracy. The measures are primarily advocacy and organizing instruments; they do not independently amend the federal Constitution. The campaign has worked with local affiliates and allied networks in numerous states. In Ohio, municipalities and voters in places including Cleveland and Toledo supported measures connected with the amendment effort. In California, Colorado, Montana, and Washington, statewide ballot initiatives were among the voter-led resolutions cited by reference material. Los Angeles adopted a supporting resolution in 2011. Wisconsin United to Amend, a partner network, reported 170 municipalities supporting the effort by 2023, representing about 3.5 million residents, along with support from 10 faith congregations. By November 2023, Move to Amend reported or was described as having support from more than 840 local governments and 22 states. More than 300 resolutions had reportedly been approved by voters. The organization’s leadership has included organizers, attorneys, civic activists, and representatives associated with progressive democracy, labor, peace, and campaign-finance reform networks. Named figures have included former national director Kaitlin Sopoci-Belknap, co-directors Greg Coleridge, Alfonso Saldana, Jennie Spanos, Katie Krasinski, and Cole Bennett, as well as prominent supporters and steering-committee participants such as David Cobb, Riki Ott, Ben Manski, George Friday, Lisa Graves, Nancy Price, Jerome Scott, Laura Bonham, Egberto Willies, and Maria Agosto. Move to Amend remains an advocacy organization centered on constitutional reform. Its continuing objective is to build sufficient public and institutional support for congressional action and eventual ratification of an amendment limiting constitutional rights to natural persons and permitting meaningful oversight of election spending.

• 2023

  Reported expansion of local and state support

  [1]Move to Amenden.wikipedia.org

  Reference material reported more than 840 local governments and 22 states supporting constitutional-amendment resolutions or ordinances by November 2023.

• 2011

  Los Angeles adopts supporting resolution

  [1]Move to Amenden.wikipedia.org

  The Los Angeles City Council unanimously endorsed the campaign’s position that corporations should not possess constitutional rights equivalent to those of natural persons.

• 2010

  Move to Amend is created

  [1]Move to Amenden.wikipedia.org

  Organizers and attorneys launched Move to Amend after the Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling on corporate independent political expenditures.

• 2009

  Amicus advocacy in Citizens United

  [1]Move to Amenden.wikipedia.org

  Several organizations later associated with the campaign submitted an amicus brief challenging the extension of constitutional protections to corporations in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission.

A nonpartisan, grassroots constitutional-reform campaign opposing corporate personhood and the treatment of political spending as protected speech. It positions local democratic organizing, public education, and formal amendment advocacy as alternatives to relying solely on litigation or conventional campaign-finance regulation.

• 2023Wisconsin United to Amend organizing

  Wisconsin, United States

  The partner network Wisconsin United to Amend expanded municipal and faith-community support for the proposed amendment.

  Outcome. The network reported 170 supporting municipalities representing approximately 3.5 million residents and 10 supporting faith congregations.

  Source
• 2011Local resolution and Democracy Day organizing

  United States

  Local affiliates have sought municipal and county resolutions supporting the amendment and, in some communities, public Democracy Day hearings examining corporate and campaign influence.

  Outcome. The approach produced endorsements from municipalities, voters, states, and civic organizations, including Los Angeles and communities in Ohio.

  Source
• 2010We the People Amendment campaign

  United States

  A national campaign for a constitutional amendment reserving constitutional rights for natural persons, rejecting the equation of money with speech, and permitting regulation and disclosure of election spending.

  Outcome. The proposal became the organization’s central long-term advocacy program and has been introduced in Congress as H.J.Res. 54 according to the reference material.

  Source

• 2010

  Pursue constitutional amendment rather than only statutory reformStrategy

  Background

  The Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling treated corporate independent political expenditures as protected speech under the First Amendment.

  Action taken

  Move to Amend made a constitutional amendment campaign its principal response, seeking to define constitutional rights as belonging to natural persons and to separate money from protected speech.

  Aftermath

  The organization built a national grassroots network and pursued local resolutions, ballot initiatives, public hearings, and congressional support.

  Source

1. 1Move to Amenden.wikipedia.org
2. 2Move to Amend official websitemovetoamend.org