(Washington, DC) - In response to the Supreme Court ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Elections Committee, which overturned over one hundred years of established law limiting the impact of corporations on elections, Congresswoman Brown made the following statement:

"This decision represents a tremendous step backward not only for our country's political process but for the American people.  By lifting the limits on corporate influence in our elections, the Court has opened up new possibilities for corruption and has put special interests ahead of the interest of the public. As a result of this ruling, I fear that the voices of average Americans could be drowned out by big business special interest groups.

"Indeed, this Supreme Court ruling strikes at the essence of our democracy.  I am certain that it was never the intent of our founding fathers to create a system in which corporations, as well as entities outside the country, could pour literally billions of dollars into elections and hold virtually limitless influence over the fate of our elected representatives.

"As Justice Stevens pointed out in his dissent, ‘corporations are not people, nor are they citizens,' and we cannot allow special-interest dollars to dictate public policy.  And as President Obama mentioned in the State of the Union address, this decision will be thoroughly reviewed by the Executive branch, and I am certain that legislatively, we will explore legislative options available to mitigate the impact of this poor decision."

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