Carl Mayer and Adam Fergatch update their campaign to force the Supreme Court to undermine its Citizens United ruling; Ted Rall is a great political cartoonist and columnist, author of The Book of Obama: From Hope and Change to the Age of Revolt. In the nicest way, Mayer and Fergatch call out Montana’s Gov. Brian Schweitzer and Attorney General Steve Bullock to include Mayer’s one-page motion to deny jurisdiction–in the state’s briefs to the Supreme Court, which may announce as soon as June 14 its decision to hear or decline the case. As you will hear, TEAM, The Eleventh Amendment Movement, argues in Mayer’s amicus brief that the Court is required by that amendment to decline the case, which would invalidate Citizens United in Montana and other states with bans on corporate campaign contributions.
Get Active! After you listen, click here to get more information on TEAM, The Eleventh Amendment Movement.
Call Gov. Brian Schweitzer at 406-444-3111
Call Attorney General Bullock at 406-444-4026
Tell them to file the brief challenging the Supreme Court’s jurisdiction in the appeal of the case “ATP vs. Bullockâ€. It only takes a minute–I called both offices and the people who answered were very nice.
We also talk about the history of the 11th Amendment, which is not all positive. Fergatch and Mayer explain their use of it to force the conservative wing to choose between states’ rights and corporate rule. Mayer talks about his work challenging “corporate personhood” 20 years ago, and how he is using the ghost of Chief Justice Rehnquist to haunt his survivors regarding the right of states to regulate corporate behavior, since corporations are creations of each of the 50 states. PBC refers to Jeffrey Toobin’s May 21 New Yorker report that describes how the current chief justice took the minor issues presented in the Citizens United lawsuit and supersized them to produce this abysmal ruling.
At about 34 minutes, Ted Rall returns to talk about his new book. He recaps his differences with Obama, offering strong criticism on wiretapping, detention, and targeted killings, especially of Americans. He is tough on Democrats and liberals, as well as the right and the media. Asked about his new gig on the blog of MSNBC, Rall is happy to have another outlet for his columns but did not shy away from your humble host’s observations that MSNBC’s prime time news shows have not covered the recent news about Obama’s kill-or-kill program. In the last few minutes, Rall moves into the revolution zone, averring that our system can’t be reformed; but we didn’t have time to get into a blueprint for the overthrow. Take a chance, visit Ted’s website.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: RSS