Victory! Illinois Calls for Amendment to Overturn Citizens United

On the final day of session, while the Illinois General Assembly failed to pass much other important legislation, Common Cause Illinois obtained a major, bipartisan victory for our members, and for citizens across the state and nation.

Thirteen Republicans joined nearly unanimous Democratic support to pass SJR27, a measure calling for a U.S. Constitutional amendment that would allow for true campaign finance reform by overturning the Supreme Court’s disastrous and unpopular holding in Citizens United v. FEC.

The victory was more than joining Montana, Colorado, New Jersey, and others to become the 14th state to call for an amendment. (Delaware and Oregon have now joined as numbers 15 and 16!) It was in the grassroots, bipartisan fashion in which we ran this campaign.

Common Cause Illinois staff organized passionate activists across the state to draft the resolution, meet with a chief sponsor, lobby their legislators in-district to obtain additional sponsors, travel to Springfield for 2 lobby days, and flood the Capitol with endless calls and emails. Previously, activists organized successful ballot measures across the state in 2012 to demonstrate broad, bipartisan support.

Common Cause Illinois members and coalition members are committed to ending the U.S. Supreme Court’s dangerous legal doctrines that corporations, unions, other artificial entities, and extremely wealthy individuals can spend unlimited money to influence elections and elected officials.

This campaign is a year old in Illinois and is moving forward. We will be reaching out to the Illinois U.S. Congressional delegation, who are now under orders from the state legislature to support the amendment in Congress. We will keep you updated on our progress. If you would like to join our fight, please sign up here to join our campaign.