Wrongheaded ruling | The Salt Lake Tribune

This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2013, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Paul Rolly's recent column ("Will the real Mia Love please stand up?" Aug. 5) about a phony campaign flier using the name and a faux photo of Mia Love to scam large contributions from her supporters illustrates the wrongheadedness of the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in the infamous Citizens United case.

In that 2010 ruling, the court's slim majority decreed that corporations and unions are "persons" entitled to the First Amendment's freedom of speech and that they can spend unlimited amounts of money advocating for political candidates. Furthermore, it ruled that such money could be raised anonymously, making it unaccountable to the public. The crooks who circulated the "Mia Love" campaign flier were taking full advantage of the Citizens United ruling, and we can expect much more of the same in the future unless something is done to reverse it.

Accordingly, more than 150 cities across the United States have passed resolutions to amend the Constitution, and next month we citizens of Salt Lake City can do the same via an official Opinion Question mailed to every home. More information can be found at https://movetoamend.org/.

Thomas Huckin

Salt Lake City