AGAINST SUPERPACS

OUR PLAN TO GET SUPERPAC MONEY OUT OF POLITICS

tl;dr

We’ve got a strategy to get the Supreme Court to finally correct the legal error that gave us the most poisonous, polarizing and consequential money in American politics — the money from SuperPACs. An initiative on Maine’s 2024 ballot will tee the issue up. When it passes in November, we will have a path to ending this scourge.

Join us!

WHAT WE’RE DOING?

WHAT WE’RE DOING?

Equal Citizens has been working for years to get this issue before the Supreme Court, so that the Supreme Court can reverse this awful mistake.

In 2018, we tried to get Alaska courts to recognize the mistake in SpeechNow. The lower court agreed with us; the Alaska Supreme Court did not.

In 2022, working with FreeSpeechForPeople.org, we tried to get an initiative in Massachusetts to block contributions to SuperPACs. The Attorney General blocked our initiative, and the SJC said we had to gather signatures before they would review the AG’s decision.

Then in 2023, building on the powerful argument FreeSpeechForPeople.org made, we launched a video competition to try to make obvious exactly why the lower courts (and the Attorney General of MA) were missing. (You can view our winning entries here.)

And then in August 2023, we began working with citizens in Maine to explore an initiative in Maine to block contributions to SuperPACs.

  • Those citizens started the ballot question committee, Maine Citizens to End SuperPACs.
  • EqualCitizens.US then raised the funds to gather the signatures to get that initiative on the ballot.
  • Those signatures have now been gathered. In January, they will be  presented to the Maine Secretary of State.
  • So that in November 2024, Maine will vote on whether to limit contributions to SuperPACs.

We are confident that the when Mainers decide the question, the state that voted to block foreign money in its elections with more than 85% support will also vote to block big money in its elections.

WHAT WOULD HAPPEN THEN

When Maine passes its anti-SuperPAC initiative in November 2024, the law will be challenged (and most likely stayed from enforcement during the litigation).

That challenge will likely happen the federal district court in Maine.

The district court will likely rule quickly on this important initiative's constitutionality.

Whatever the outcome, the decision will be appealed to the First Circuit Court of Appeals.

The First Circuit has not yet ruled on whether SpeechNow is correct. It will, therefore, have a chance to consider the matter without the burden of prior precedent.

If Maine prevails in the First Circuit, then the United States Supreme Court will certainly take the case up.

And if things move quickly, then by July 2026 — the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence — the Supreme Court will either declare us free of SuperPACs or give us yet another reason for a (peaceful) revolution in constitutional law (through amendments! See the great work of American Promise).

WHAT WOULD HAPPEN THEN

HOW WE FUND THIS WORK

HOW WE FUND THIS WORK

We recognized that it was going to be difficult to raise the $1 million it was going to take to get this initiative on the ballot.

So we determined to raise this money from the very people who would be affected most by this initiative — the super wealthy, who use SuperPACs to influence public policy.

Our aim now is to recruit as many of those super wealthy as we can to commit to support this effort to reduce their influence in American politics.

This is something rare, but important, in American politics:

Powerful people demanding that legislatures and the people be allowed the power to limit the influence of powerful people in politics.

We want them to say, through their wallet and their words:

We demand the same influence in politics that everyone else has — which is to say much less than we have now!

WHAT YOU CAN DO NOW?

If you’re among the few most privileged in America, and want to join this pledge, reach out to Lessig here.

If you’re among the many in America who want a politics in which our government is, as James Madison promised, “dependent on the people alone,” where “the people” he meant “not the rich more than the poor,” then help Maine pass this anti-SuperPAC initiative.

Because in American, when 50 billionaires stand behind an idea, there’s a really really good chance it will happen. And if the people agree with them, that at least can’t hurt. 

It is time to reverse this mistake, and end this corruption in American politics.

Let us make this critically important idea happen now.

WHAT YOU CAN DO NOW

LEARN MORE ABOUT THE STRATEGY AGAINST SUPERPACS

ALASKA LEGAL FILINGS

MAINE LEGAL FILINGS (COMING SOON)

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HOW YOU CAN HELP