Citizens United Protesters Rename Supreme Court the "U.S. Supreme Koch"

Brendan DeMelle DeSmog
on

Protesters marked the second anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling by unfurling a banner reading โ€œU.S. Supreme Kochโ€ on the court house steps. The action is part of a week-long effort to raise awareness of the unjust power that the Citizens United decision has gifted to corporate special interests and billionaires like the Koch brothers over U.S.ย politics.

The Supreme Court’s astonishing ruling in Citizens United v. FEC enables unlimited corporate expenditures on political campaigns and allows donors to influence elections without being identified.ย  It’s exactly the weapon that corporations like Koch Industries, run by billionaire brothers David and Charles Koch, are using to turn the U.S. into an oligarchy that serves the ‘needs’ of the 1% and endangers the rest ofย Americans.

The protesters represented a host of citizens groups, including The Other 98%, Health Care for America Now, Backbone Campaign, Greenpeace, Velvet Revolution and AFSCME.

โ€œThe Kochs and their kind are engaged in a hostile corporate takeover of our nationโ€™s political system,โ€ said John Sellers, co-founder of The Other 98%. โ€œWe’ve come to the scene of the crime today โ€“ the U.S. Supreme Court โ€“ to tell the justices exactly what we think of the infamous Citizens United ruling that made that takeoverย possible.โ€

โ€œThe Supreme Court has undermined government of, by and for the actual people by defining corporations as people and money as speech,โ€ said Ethan Rome, executive director of Health Care for Americaย Now.

Here are a few pictures and a video of theย action:

ย 

Video from VelvetRevolution. More pictures and video clips will be posted later today at The Other 98 Percent.

H/T Health Care For Americaย Now

Brendan DeMelle DeSmog
Brendan is Executive Director of DeSmog. He is also a freelance writer and researcher specializing in media, politics, climate change and energy. His work has appeared in Vanity Fair, The Huffington Post, Grist, The Washington Times and other outlets.

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