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Philadelphia Protest Marks 2nd Anniversary of High Court's 'Citizens United' Ruling

By Steve Tawa

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Saying they want to limit corporate influence on American elections, about a hundred demonstrators took to the streets of center city Philadelphia this afternoon in an attempt to gather support for a Constitutional amendment to overturn a contentious 2010 US Supreme Court ruling.

Organizers of the protest say the "Citizens United" ruling two years ago (January 21, 2010) toppled dozens of federal and state laws and could lead to a corporate takeover of the electoral process.

The 5-4 decision by the US Supreme Court permits corporations, unions, and other special interests to raise and spend unlimited amounts of money to advocate the election or defeat of political candidates.

"Our elections can be bought secretly yet directly by companies bigger than the economies of most nations across the globe," says Steve Strahs of the group Move To Amend.

The protesters marched from Thomas Paine Plaza near City Hall, down Market Street to the federal courthouse at Sixth Street.

Move To Amend has begun a state-by-state effort to get Congress to reverse the high court.  It would take a two-thirds majority vote in Congress, followed by ratification by state legislatures in at least 38 states.

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