Washington, DC—Seven activists with the democracy movement 99Rise disrupted the nation’s highest court this morning, issuing a series of statements calling for the justices to overturn their unpopular Citizens United decision, ruled on five years ago today. Each protester stood up and presented a demand to the Court before raising their index finger in the air. The gesture represents “one person, one vote” political equality, a principle which has been undermined by the limitless campaign spending facilitated by the activist Court.
“We have seen the consequences of the free flow of private money rushing into our public political system,” said 99Rise activist Curt Ries who risked arrest to protest the Court’s ruling. “Nearly $4 billion was spent in the 2014 Mid-Term Elections, and almost all of it came from a handful of wealthy individuals and organizations. The kind of influence that money buys fundamentally corrupts our electoral process by giving undue representation to wealthy donors and corporations. That’s not a democracy, it’s a plutocracy.”
Last year 99Rise co-founder Kai Newkirk interrupted the Supreme Court in an unprecedented act of civil disobedience, which was caught on video. The seven people who disrupted the court today were: Alexandra Flores-Quilty, Curt Ries, Margaret Johnson, Mary Zeiser, Andrew Batcher, Katherine Philipson and Irandira Gonzales (who delivered her message to the Court in Spanish). 99Rise members again captured video footage from within the court chamber.
A recent study by Princeton University political scientists confirmed that analysis when it concluded that the will of the people has a “near-zero, statistically-insignificant impact on public policy.” Since the current Court has opened our elections to virtually unlimited sums of private money, 99Rise believes that the American people have no other choice but to fight for a Constitutional Amendment that would overturn Citizens United and guarantee political equality for all Americans, regardless of wealth.
99Rise is a grassroots organization waging nonviolent struggle to get money out of politics and reclaim democracy for the 99%. 99Rise organizers are urging the public to stand with the seven activists who were arrested today by signing their online petition at www.99rise.org.
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