Dear Champions of Democracy, 

The time has come so quickly for Move to Amend Salt Lake to make a stand... in front of the Utah Supreme Court! We'd love to have you join us; despite the subject line, we're not actually going to "roar" but our legal arguments will be so powerful the voices of all democratic citizens will reverberate in that court chamber. 

Thursday, July 26
10:30 a.m.
Matheson Courthouse
(between 400 and 500 South on State Street -- here's more info on bus routes and parking)

Some people are still a bit confused about how we ended up in court.  We've explained it the long way (here and here)--which left some people still confused.  So let's try a really short version. 

We met with Salt Lake City officialls beginning in 2011 to discuss our ballot initiative.  The City Attorney approved of our initiative lagunage--a resolution calling for a constitutional amendment to say that corproations are not people and money is not speech. We gathered over 11,000 signatures in support of the ballot initiative--we projected victory, and we celebrated.  Our signatures were validated and declared sufficient by the county--we celebrated again. Then Salt Lake City came back to us and said, "Oh, uh, oops. Sorry about this, but it turns out that citizens initiatives can not be resolutions, or just collective statements. Citizens initiatives have to create an actual law or else they are illegal." We had already extensively researched the state code about ballot initiatives and felt confident we were legal, but it wasn't regular ole' law but "case law" the city was citing. Utah Supreme Court case law is thick, dense, obscure, largely inaccessible--but when we saw the city's legal explanation citing Supreme Court precedent, we had to weep.  ARGH--75-year-old precedent is getting in our way!? We got angry; we were incredulous. Then we realized--wait, the Supreme Court about 75 years ago said that citizens--despite their Constitutional right to ballot initiatives--can not put resolutions on ballots because it'll just become too cumbersome with so many resolutions to vote on--as if people would go crazy with resolutions! But that was 75 years ago--the world has changed!  I mean, we use computers to vote now! It's a very different world, it's a new dawn for direct democracy and the Supreme Court will have to hear our voices. 

Our argument before the Supreme Court will be provided by Caleb Proulx; we don't know when a decision will come. Caleb is a member of the Move to Amend Salt Lake organizing collective and is a law student at the University of Utah. He spent a lot of time on our signature campaign and now also on our legal campaign.  He's eloquent and brilliant and we have our best chance of winning with him as our advocate.

But that's not all!

There may be a crowd of politically-minded activists across the street from the courthouse, gathered to protest the American Legislative Exchange Council (more on that here). We'd love it if you could join us after court and tell the people in the park about our campaign, about our court case, about our plan to restore democracy.  

Stick with us cuz' we're sticking with democracy,

Move to Amend Salt Lake Organizing Collective

Dear democracy devotees,  

With challenges come opportunities. Our latest unexpected challenge brings the exciting opportunity to create new law at the Utah Supreme Court that would empower people over corporate-controlled governments. We're in the business of reworking Constitutions to empower people and it's thrilling that we may do that much sooner than any of us anticipated.

But we need your help. Our opportunity with the Supreme Court has cost us $360 in a filing fee and we need to recoup those funds. Please consider making a donation in the box on the right-side column of this website. 

First, as you may already know, the Salt Lake City recorder has rejected our ballot initiative as illegal. State law from the Legislature and really dusty-old Supreme Court precedents have stopped us cold on our march to the ballot (read Salt Lake City attorney Ed Rutan's legal opinion here). In short, our ballot initiative doesn't have a legal impact, it doesn't create a law; instead it is a resolution, a statement that encapsulates the collective will of the people to amend the Constitution, which is no small thing! Nevertheless, resolutions are arguably illegal as a citizen-lead ballot initiative; at least Salt Lake City thinks so. There is no good rationale that we understand for limiting the people's 1^st Amendment Rights at the ballot box. The Legislature passes resolutions all the time and even places them on the ballot. It's clear that the Utah Constitution gives the people powers to legislate that are coequal and coextensive of the Legislature, so we believe our resolution is indeed legal and Constitutional—but more on that in a bit.

Second, we thought the Salt Lake City Council, seeing that so many city residents wanted this on the ballot, could easily rescue us and put our issue on the ballot on our behalf with a simple vote. Uh, not quite. We have overwhelming support from the council and they would put it on November's ballot if they believed that they could. Alas, those corrupt state laws again: there are only 8 types of ballot issues city councils can place on presidential-election-year ballots and the state Legislators—always jealously picking at any power wielded by anyone besides themselves—have seen to it that City-Council-lead ballot resolutions can only appear in off-year elections (when voter participation is much lower).

So, we're at an impasse with Salt Lake City. The mayor, the city council, the city bureaucracy, they all support us and what we're trying to do, but they feel that their hands are tied. But WE, THE PEOPLE, have a plan to liberate our city and unleash greater powers of direct democracy right now in 2012.

We're proud to announce that we've filed an appeal to the Utah Supreme Court that would expand any Utah citizen's right to ballot initiatives to include resolutions, and possibly much more. Our argument is essentially that the citizens' right to ballot initiative, which is established in the Utah Constitution, is no less than the power of the legislature—so if they can pass resolutions that appear on the ballot, so certainly can we. All these accumulated requirements for what we can do and can't do, and when we can do it, all amount to unconstitutional infringement of our right to direct democracy. Seems fair and uncomplicated, right? We're hoping the Supreme Court sees it that way. Our awesome legal brief was authored by Move to Amend Organizing Collective member Caleb Proulx—you can read it here. We're expecting Salt Lake City's reply to the Supreme Court by July 2.

At some point this summer, we will likely have oral argument where these important issues regarding the power of the people will be discussed in the most hallowed court room in Utah. And Move to Amend—that's YOU and we, and all of us—will be there, arguing on behalf of the people that a government OF, BY AND FOR THE PEOPLE certainly must include the right to ballot initiative resolutions.

Let's be clear: this task is daunting and success is not assured. But we were daunted by our task of collecting over 11,000 signatures as well, and together we accomplished that. A victory at the Supreme Court would be momentous and it's within grasp. We can do this, but we do need your help and this time that help is money. We're spending hundreds of volunteer hours trying to take these curves like we're on rails but the court wants a $360 as a filing fee, and we can't volunteer away that fee. We need to collect those funds so that this hard work can continue. Please make your donation right here, right now.

Risk everything for liberty,

Move to Amend Organizing Collective

Read more about our Supreme Court case by clicking here.

Democracy Defenders,

Historians have a term for how empires keep their populations complacent in the midst of war, repression and austerity. They call it Bread and Circus: just enough food to stave off revolts and enough entertainment to keep folks distracted.

We've had more than our fair share of this tactic in the last while, and the crew at Move to Amend is sick and tired of it!

We're rising up and resisting corporate rule, pushing onward to a ballot victory in November, and we intend to have some fun doing it.

This time, though, we're taking a page from our opponent's book. We've turned Bread and Circus on its head: feeding people baguettes while edu-taining them about the wily corporate elite.

We've built an eye-bendingly beautfiul traveling Bread and Circus democracy wagon that will roll through the streets performing plays on the history and consequence of corporate rule and what Move to Amend intends to do about it. After the performances, we'll eat bread together and talk about the campaign.

And after all our hard work, we're ready to roll.

We debut this Friday at the Granary District block party, and we need supporters there to join us! We'll cruis in on bikes and will need a cheering crowd.

THIS Friday
June 15th
7:15 pm
700 S 400 W

So come one, come all for a night of fantastical street theater featuring feats of vaudevillian wonder, drama and a call to action.You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll even learn a little something. Travel through time to see the past, present, and future of corporate rule and democracy: how they got the power, and what we’re going to do to take it back! Educational fun for the whole family! Come for the show, stay for the bread and conversation.

Invite friends!

Facebook event here. 

Join us!

The Move to Amend Organizing Collective

Democracy Defenders,

Last week, we got a call from the City Recorder's office: "You'd better start preparing," Chris Meeker said, "because YOU are on the ballot!"


That's right! In November, tens of thousands of Salt Lake voters will go to the polls and be able to say, loud and clear, that corporations are not people, that money is not speech, and that we need an amendment to the Constitution that says the same so that we can start making a real democracy in this country.

This year, over 90 cities will pass resolutions in support of Move to Amend's Constitutional amendment. But Salt Lake is special: We are the FIRST city in the whole country to  collect enough signatures to get on the ballot though sheer citizen mandate. It is also the first time Salt Lake has ever had a citizens initiative on its local ballot.

This is truly a momentous occasion, and you were all a vital part of it. The clerk's office gave us some sobering numbers: We made our goal of 7,142 by just over 100 signatures.

Phew! That means that every single one of you--whether you collected ten, twenty, fifty or five hundred signatures--was an absolutely crucial part of getting on the ballot. If you hadn't gone out canvassing even one day, we might have missed our mark.

That's proof that we need every single one of you to win on election day and push this issue one step further.

We have been using our month off to create some inspiring plans for phase two of our campaign. We will unveil these soon, but let's just say that we'll be creating the kind of democracy we want to see as we dismantle the corpocracy that we don't want to see.

We'll be giving you a call in the next few weeks to invite you to the launch of the second part of our campaign. When we do, say you'll be there. We need your heads, hearts, talents and time if we're going to create a true grassroots groundswell of outrage and possibiility all over the nation.

Folks are looking to Salt Lake for inspiration, and we want them to see you!

With excitement and dedication,

The Move to Amend Salt Lake Organizing Collective