Money v. People

McCutcheon v. FEC should really be called Money v. People.

CWA President Larry Cohen addresses the rally.

Below: CWAers gather on the steps of the Supreme Court.

On Tuesday, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments for a case challenging one of the remaining campaign finance laws on the books, which Shaun McCutcheon, a wealthy Alabama businessman and conservative activist, and the Republican National Committee brought against the Federal Election Committee. McCutcheon and the RNC are arguing that the limit on the total money one individual can contribute over each election period – $123,000 – is unconstitutional and violates that private citizen's First Amendment rights. If they're successful, wealthy donors will be able to give an unrestricted amount of cash directly to PACs, parties and candidates – making it even easier for rich people to buy elections.

On the steps of the court, campaign finance reform activists urged the court to defend these "aggregate contribution limits," so that the strength of Americans' political voice does not depend on the size of their wallets. CWA President Larry Cohen connected the dots on how the Supreme Court's rulings on free speech issues have hurt our democracy.

"This court and its predecessors confused free speech when it came to workers' rights 70 years ago, when this became the only democracy in the world to say that employers can run orchestrated campaigns against their own workers under the banner of free speech. We say here today that's called union busting," he told the crowd. "Today we say clearly, free speech is not equal to money."

He added, "We know what democracy looks like. And we will fight to have a 21st century democracy in terms of our voting rights, in terms of stopping the obscene spending by the richest billionaires in the world and also at work, so workers again have rights."

Check out Cohen’s full speech:

Demos had filed an amicus brief in the case on behalf of the four principal conveners of the Democracy Initiative (CWA, Greenpeace, NAACP, Sierra Club) as well as organizations that represent small businesses (Main Street Alliance), young people (OurTime.org, Rock the Vote), working families (American Federation of Teachers, Working Families Organization), and the public interest (People For the American Way Foundation, U.S. PIRG).

In Michigan, consumer advocacy groups and members of the Michigan Election Coalition – CWA, PIRGIM, Common Cause Michigan, and the Campaign Finance Reform Network – also called on the Supreme Court to uphold campaign contribution limits.

"We're entering dangerous territory where money could trump citizens' best interests," said CWA Staff Representative Mike Schulte. "We're opposing this measure to protect voters' best interest, and to make sure that money isn't dictating law but instead the will of the people."

Watch Michigan Election Coalition's video of its press conference here.