Massachusetts Senate hopeful Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA) called for repealing the Citizens United ruling during a campaign stop Wednesday in Pittsfield, Mass., saying it needed a constitutional fix similar to the way the 1857 Dred Scott decision was ultimately overturned by the 13th and 14th Amendments, BuzzFeed reports.
“I want to go to the United States Senate in order to fight for a constitutional amendment to repeal Citizens United,” Markey said. “The whole idea that the Koch brothers, that Karl Rove can say we’re coming to Massachusetts, to any state of the union with undisclosed amounts of money is a pollution, which must be changed.”
He continued: “The constitution must be amended. The Dred Scott decision had to be repealed, we have to repeal Citizens United,” he added.
The Markey campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Update: The Markey campaign responded with a statement from the candidate:
“Citizens United is poisoning the democratic process in America and that is completely wrong. The Supreme Court had the horrific judgment to issue the Dred Scott decision, and people rose up to challenge it. Today we’re faced with another egregious decision that needs overturning — Citizens United. The damage the Court unleashed by allowing outside money to control elections constitutes a legitimate Constitutional crisis. Karl Rove, the Koch Brothers and anonymous special interests have no place in our elections and no place in this Senate race. I repeat my challenge to all Republican candidates to accept the people’s pledge to keep this toxic outside spending and negative advertising out of the Senate race.”
