House Dems and Now a Senate Republican Introduce Legislation Overruling Citizens United

It should come as no surprise when House Democrats introduce a constitutional amendment seeking to overturn Citizens United, as some did earlier this year with the Democracy for All Amendment.  Good luck with that, by the way.  But now Senate Republican Josh Hawley, not quite understanding the relationship between statutes, the Constitution and Marbury v. Madison, has introduced a bill that purports to overrule the Supreme Court’s ruling that the First Amendment — the US Constitution’s First Amendment, I mean — prohibits Congress from regulating CorporateSpeak.   Okay.  Good luck with that too.  

The bill’s snowball chance in Hell proves Justice Roberts might not have been in his right mind when he hired Hawley as a law clerk years ago.  Or else Hawley is just playing.  Politics, I mean.  Either way, Senator Mitch McConnell thought enough of the bill to haul his minions into a closed door meeting at which he put foot down:

Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell bluntly warned Republican senators in a private meeting not to sign on to a bill from Sen. Josh Hawley aimed at limiting corporate money bankrolling high-powered outside groups, telling them that many of them won their seats thanks to the powerful super PAC the Kentucky Republican has long controlled.

According to multiple sources familiar with the Tuesday lunch meeting, McConnell warned GOP senators that they could face “incoming” from the “center-right” if they signed onto Hawley’s bill. He also read off a list of senators who won their races amid heavy financial support from the Senate Leadership Fund, an outside group tied to the GOP leader that spends big on TV ads in battleground Senate races. On that list of senators: Hawley himself, according to sources familiar with the matter.

McConnell has long been a chief opponent of tighter campaign finance restrictions. But there’s also no love lost between McConnell and Hawley, who has long criticized the GOP leader and has repeatedly called for new leadership atop their conference. Just on Tuesday, Hawley told CNN that it was “mistake” for McConnell to be “standing with” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, in their push to to tie Ukraine aid to an Israel funding package.

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darryll k. jones