On Tuesday, several Democrats spoke out in a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in support of changing the U.S. Constitution in order to weaken or destroy First Amendment protections we take for granted.

No, that’s not a joke, nor is it an exaggeration. Forty Senate Democrats and two independents are now co-sponsoring a constitutional amendment by Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M., which would grant the Congress plenary power to regulate political campaign speech, depending on what a bare majority of its members may deem proper at any given time. Renowned First Amendment attorney Floyd Abrams — not known for his conservatism — said in his testimony on Tuesday that the Udall amendment “would limit speech that is at the heart of the First Amendment.”