One year after the Supreme Court ruled in the Citizens United case that corporations have the same rights as people, movements are underway around the U.S. to reverse the new protections granted by the country's highest court. Vermont State Senator Virginia Lyons has introduced the country's first anti-corporate personhood resolution which proposes amending the U.S. Constitution to specify that "corporations are not persons under the laws of the United States." The resolution would make it clear that corporations are not the equivalent of human beings and do not have the same constitutional rights afforded people.

The Center for Media and Democracy's Executive Director Lisa Graves appeared at "The People's Summit," a public affairs event held in Washington, D.C. January 21 to discuss the impact of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. The landmark ruling, which is one year old this month, was achieved on a divided 5-4 vote and overturned a century of previous court rulings that held that corporate political donations can, and should be regulated. The decision effectively equated money with speech, and protects corporate speech the same way the law protects individual speech. Other panelists discussing the impact of the law included Marge Baker, Executive Vice President for Policy and Program Planning for People for the American Way, Douglas Clopp, Deputy Director for Programs for Common Cause, and Craig Holman, Legislative Representative for Public Citizen's Congress Watch. The panel session, which was broadcast on CSPAN, was held to highlight the effects of money in politics and the rise of corporate power in our democracy. Video of the 1 hour, 17 minute panel discussion is available here.