Portland Move to Amend is a nonpartisan association of volunteers galvanized into action by the Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission decision by the United States Supreme Court. We are alarmed by the threat to democracy posed by unrestricted corporate spending on local, state, and national election campaigns. In particular, we hold it as self-evident that corporations are not people, money is not speech, and therefore the regulation of corporate spending on elections is not an abridgement of First Amendment free speech rights.

But the problem of corporate power is not just that corporations have been given free speech rights by the US Supreme Court. The courts, especially the US Supreme Court, have given corporations many other human rights as listed in the US Bill of Rights. Those include rights to equal protection and due process (14th Amendment), due process (5th Amendment), right to jury trial (6th & 7th Amendment), takings (5th Amendment), free speech (1st Amendment), no random inspections (4th Amendment), protection against double jeopardy (5th Amendment), and no unwarranted inspections (4th Amendment). The Michigan Supreme Court also declared that corporations sole purpose is to produce value for shareholders. Other US Supreme Court decisions have declared that corporations also have rights not to do certain things, like speak.

We are an association focusing on local grassroots action in Portland OR, and the surrounding area. We have joined forces with other citizens across the nation by affiliating with MoveToAmend.org. Our purpose is to ask the citizens of Portland to vote on a ballot measure calling for constitutional amends to end corporate personhood.