EP 195: The Constitutional Amendment That Could Change Money in Politics

A growing bipartisan movement wants to amend the U.S. Constitution to take back control of the amount of money in American politics. In this episode, Mosheh sits down with Jeff Clements, CEO of ⁠American Promise⁠, to unpack how Supreme Court decisions like Buckley v. Valeo and Citizens United transformed campaign finance, helping usher in an era of $20 billion election cycles, super PACs, and dark money. They explore why the U.S. has become such an outlier among democracies when it comes to campaign spending, why Congress has repeatedly failed to change the system, and how the courts—not lawmakers—have largely dictated the rules for the past 50 years. Clements explains why his organization is pursuing a constitutional amendment instead of another campaign finance law, how 25 states have already backed the effort, and why he believes the movement is gaining momentum. They also debate whether money should be considered protected speech under the First Amendment—and what could change if Americans, rather than the courts, once again had the power to set the rules governing money in elections. Mosheh Oinounou (⁠⁠@mosheh⁠⁠) is an Emmy and Murrow award-winning journalist. He has 20 years of experience at networks including Fox News, Bloomberg Television and CBS News, where he was the executive producer of the CBS Evening News and launched the network's 24 hour news channel. He founded the @mosheh Instagram news account in 2020 and the Mo News podcast and newsletter in 2022.