Jeff Clements (born 1962) is an American attorney, author, and the co-founder and CEO of American Promise.[1][2] He is the author of Corporations Are Not People: Reclaiming Democracy From Big Money And Global Corporations. Since 2010, he has been one of the chief advocates for a 28th Amendment to overturn Citizens United v. FEC and allow the U.S. Congress and states to set reasonable limits on campaign spending in U.S. Elections.[3]
Jeff Clements | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 1962 (age 61–62) |
| Occupation | CEO of American Promise |
| Education | Colby College Cornell Law School (JD) |
Early life and education
editClements majored in government at Colby College, graduating in 1984, he obtained his J.D. from Cornell Law School in 1988, graduating Magna Cum Laude.[4] [5]
Legal career
editHired by Massachusetts Attorney General Scott Harshbarger in 1996, Clements served as Assistant Attorney General of Massachusetts from 1996 to 2000 where he worked on Investigations and enforcement of deceptive trade practices, antitrust, and consumer protection laws.[6] Starting in 2006, Clements served as the Assistant Attorney General and Chief of the Public Protection Bureau in Massachusetts.[7] In private practice, Jeff has been a partner at Mintz Levin in Boston, and in his own firm.[8]
Advocacy work
editIn 2009, as a private attorney, Clements represented several public interest organizations with a U.S. Supreme Court amicus brief in the Citizens United case. Clements argued: "[w]hether or not the Supreme Court's decision in Citizens United explicitly addresses 'corporate rights' under the Constitution, a holding that overrules Austin and McConnell would rest on the remarkable - and erroneous - assumption that the Constitution provides corporations with First Amendment and Fourteenth Amendment rights equivalent to those of people for purposes of political expenditures." [9]
Following the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Citizens United v. FEC, Clements and John Bonifaz founded Free Speech For People in 2010 to advocate for a 28th Amendment to overturn the Courts controversial 5–4 ruling.[10][11]
In 2012, Jeff co-founded Whaleback Partners LLC, provides accessible start-up funding for farmers and businesses engaged in local, sustainable agriculture.[12]
In 2016, Clements founded American Promise to accelerate the movement to win a 28th amendment by building cross partisan, grassroots infrastructure across the United States.[13][14]
References
edit- ^ "It's Citizens Who Will Save Us From Citizens United". YES! Magazine. October 26, 2016. Retrieved September 21, 2017.
- ^ "Jeffrey Clements: 'Corporations Are Not People'". SFGate. March 1, 2012. Retrieved September 21, 2017.
- ^ "The "rubber stamp" SCOTUS: How corporations' ugly myth became law". Salon. September 30, 2014. Retrieved September 21, 2017.
- ^ "Cornell Law Faculty Members Join Alumni Led Legal Advocacy Program to Overturn Citizens United". Cornell Law School. October 9, 2013. Retrieved September 21, 2017.
- ^ "Jeffrey Clements". Ballotpedia. Retrieved September 21, 2017.
- ^ "Testimony of Scott Harshbarger, Attorney General of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Before the United States House of Representatives Committee on Banking and Financial Services Delivered by Assistant Attorney General Jeffrey D. Clements". The Committee on Financial Services. July 28, 1998. Retrieved September 21, 2017.
- ^ "Attorney General Martha Coakley and the National Federation of the Blind Reach Agreement with Apple, Inc. to Improve Accessibility of iTunes®". Mass.gov. September 26, 2008. Retrieved September 21, 2017.
- ^ "Lawyer to discuss Supreme Court ruling". Fairfield Citizen. September 6, 2012. Retrieved September 21, 2017.
- ^ "Beyond Citizens United V. FEC: Re-Examining Corporate Rights". American Constitution Society Blog. November 4, 2009. Retrieved September 21, 2017.
- ^ "Reactions split on Obama's remark, Alito's response at State of the Union". Washington Post. January 29, 2010. Retrieved September 21, 2017.
- ^ "The Nation: Dump Citizens United". NPR. January 2012. Retrieved September 21, 2017.
- ^ "Corporations Are Not People Author To Speak in Rockford". The Rock River Times. October 15, 2014. Retrieved September 21, 2017.
- ^ "Sapochetti: Give power back to the people with 28th Amendment". Boston Herald. October 6, 2016. Retrieved September 13, 2017.
- ^ "Putting Citizenship Back in Congress". The New York Times. July 4, 2017. Retrieved August 29, 2017.