SJ8 would request that Congress propose an amendment to the U.S. Constitution permitting the states and the federal government to “establish reasonable limits on the spending of money to influence elections.”
The Senate adopted SJ8 on February 11, 2025, by a vote of 17 to 13. We have assigned pluses to the nays because requiring law-abiding U.S. citizens to disclose or limit political campaign contributions is an egregious denial of free speech and private property. Government has absolutely no authority to restrict a person’s right to speak freely or spend their own money, including their right do so in association with others. Given that the legitimate powers of government apply only to acts that are injurious, campaign finance laws are nothing less than indirect forms of voter suppression and election interference. They hinder Americans’ ability to choose and support from among themselves the candidates who they deem best represent them—to the extent they desire, using their own resources. In addition, mandatory reporting subjects both candidates and their supporters to another sweeping layer of government surveillance, violating personal privacy. Article I, Section 4, of the U.S. Constitution, was written to keep the regulation of elections first and foremost at the state level, closer to the people. Yet if “We the People” are to remain the true censors of our government, the States must safeguard the public liberty by opposing this anti-constitutional federal amendment.
