SJR 16: Supporting an amendment to the United States Constitution stating that the Constitution does not create, grant, or protect constitutional rights of corporations or other artificial entities, recognizing that the United States government may limit expenditures of money to influence elections and public policy, and overturning the decision of the United States Supreme Court in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission.
00 SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 16 01 Supporting an amendment to the United States Constitution stating that the 02 Constitution does not create, grant, or protect constitutional rights of corporations or 03 other artificial entities, recognizing that the United States government may limit 04 expenditures of money to influence elections and public policy, and overturning the 05 decision of the United States Supreme Court in Citizens United v. Federal Election 06 Commission. 07 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 08 WHEREAS the right of human beings to self-governance lies at the heart of 09 democracy; and 10 WHEREAS the Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution 11 recognize that human beings possess certain inalienable rights; and 12 WHEREAS the Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution do 13 not discuss or grant rights to corporations or to artificial entities other than the United States 14 and its constituent states; and
01 WHEREAS, because corporations and other artificial entities are not and have never 02 been human beings, they are entitled only to powers and protections granted to them by the 03 people; and 04 WHEREAS recent judicial decisions, including the 2010 United States Supreme 05 Court opinion issued in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission at 558 U.S. 310, 06 have held that corporations and other artificial entities are "persons" under the United States 07 Constitution, empowered to spend unlimited funds on political speech, thereby influencing 08 elections and otherwise undermining the power of the people to self-governance; and 09 WHEREAS, if freedom of speech is equated with freedom to spend money, the free 10 speech of the majority may be overwhelmed by the messages of a few; and 11 WHEREAS the people are supreme and may overrule the United States Supreme 12 Court by amending the United States Constitution; and 13 WHEREAS 20 state governments have already passed resolutions calling for an 14 amendment to the United States Constitution to address those issues; and 15 WHEREAS the Assembly of the Kenai Peninsula Borough, the Homer City Council, 16 the City and Borough Assembly of Sitka, and the Anchorage Municipal Assembly have 17 already passed resolutions calling for an amendment to the United States Constitution to 18 address those issues; 19 BE IT RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature, together with the people of the 20 state, support and call for an amendment to the United States Constitution stating that the 21 Constitution does not create, grant, or protect constitutional rights of corporations or other 22 artificial entities, authorizing the federal government to limit expenditures of money to 23 influence elections and public policy, and overturning the 2010 decision of the United States 24 Supreme Court in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission at 558 U.S. 310. 25 COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable Donald J. Trump, President 26 of the United States; the Honorable Michael R. Pence, Vice President of the United States and 27 President of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the U.S. House of 28 Representatives; the Honorable Mitch McConnell, Majority Leader of the U.S. Senate; and 29 the Honorable Lisa Murkowski and the Honorable Dan Sullivan, U.S. Senators, and the 30 Honorable Don Young, U.S. Representative, members of the Alaska delegation in Congress.