Nashua, N.H.
Speaking at a country club in New Hampshire on Monday, Jeb Bush said he wants the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision to be overturned.
“The ideal thing–situation–would be to overturn the Supreme Court ruling that allows for effectively unregulated money independent and regulated money for the campaign. I would turn that on its head if I could,” Bush said. “The key is just to have total transparency about the amounts of money and who gives it and have it with 48-hour turnaround.”
“It’s going to require an amendment to the Constitution,” Bush added.
Bush discussed efforts to amend the Constitution through a state-driven convention process in order to mandate term limits and a balanced federal budget. “A fourth possibility could be overturning the Supreme Court decision and creating greater transparency for how you raise money and how you spend it,” Bush said.
The Citizens United decision was one of two key 5-4 Supreme Court decisions that struck down the McCain-Feingold campaign finance law’s regulations on organizations not directly tied to presidential campaigns.
Conservatives and others who support the First Amendment have generally viewed the Citizens United decision as a victory for free speech. The four Supreme Court justices who dissented were all liberal activists.
Bush did not elaborate on what regulations he would like to impose on independent campaign activities. Bush spokesman Tim Miller wrote in an email to THE WEEKLY STANDARD that Bush’s “view is there should be unlimited donations with 48 hour transparency. For all groups.”
But overturning Citizens United would not remove all limits on campaign contributions to all groups. Overturning Citizens United would actually impose restrictions on the campaign activities of independent organizations.
There is no Supreme Court ruling stopping Congress and the president from enacting a law to remove contribution limits to political campaigns.
