Which amendment protects lobbyists

Whether or not they were informed of the problem through a grassroots campaign is irrelevant--their action is based on their own belief in the importance of matters before Congress.

Second, it appears that groups such as the ACLU may end up having to report its activities because of the grassroots lobbying provisions. The fact that the ACLU employs that individual appears to be irrelevant to this provision. Another example of the broad reach of this provision is an executive director of a state affiliate of an issue-oriented organization.

The provision requires registration with the Secretary of the Senate and the Clerk of the House of Representatives within 45 days after a grassroots lobbying firm is retained in paid efforts to stimulate grassroots lobbying. This is sure to alert opponents to the fact that an organization is about to engage in a grassroots lobbying campaign.

By having to report expenditures, opponents are also able to deduce the extent of the campaign. The Senate understandably is concerned about the appearance of impropriety as well as unethical conduct. However, the Abramoff scandal has already demonstrated that most of the activity engaged in by Mr.

Abramoff is already illegal. Valeo, U. Q: Are lobbyists justified in a democracy? A: The Constitution guarantees the right to petition government. First Amendment: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

The Supreme Court said in a case:. At the time, Abramoff was lobbying Congress to exempt the Northern Mariana Islands from paying the federal minimum wage and to allow the territory to continue to operate sweatshops in which people worked in deplorable conditions. In , while representing Native American casino interests who sought to defeat anti-gambling legislation, Abramoff paid for a trip to Scotland for Tom DeLay, the majority whip in the House of Representatives, and an aide.

Shortly thereafter, DeLay helped to defeat anti-gambling legislation in the House. Jack Abramoff center began his lifetime engagement in politics with his involvement in the presidential campaign of Ronald Reagan left while an undergraduate at Brandeis University and continued it with his election to chair of the College Republican National Committee in a campaign managed by Grover Norquist right.

Abramoff thus gained unique access to influential politicians, upon which he capitalized in his later work as a DC lobbyist. Since his release from federal prison in after being convicted for illegal lobbying activity, Abramoff has become an outspoken critic of the lobbying industry. Some argue that contributing to political candidates is a form of free speech. According to this view, the First Amendment protects the right of interest groups to give money to politicians.

However, others argue that monetary contributions should not be protected by the First Amendment and that corporations and unions should not be treated as individuals, although the Supreme Court has disagreed. Currently, lobbyist and interest groups are restricted by laws that require them to register with the federal government and abide by a waiting period when moving between lobbying and lawmaking positions.

Interest groups and their lobbyists are also prohibited from undertaking certain activities and are required to disclose their lobbying activities.

Violation of the law can, and sometimes does, result in prison sentences for lobbyists and lawmakers alike. Baumgartner, Frank R. Lobbying and Policy Change. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Clark, Peter B. Dahl, Robert A. A Preface to Democratic Theory. Who Governs? Democracy and Power in an American City. Lindblom, Charles E. New York: Basic Books. Olson, Mancur. The Logic of Collective Action. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. Rosenstone, Steven J. Mobilization, Participation and Democracy in America.

New York: Macmillan. Schattschneider, E. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston. Wright, John R. Citizens United Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission was a Supreme Court case that granted corporations and unions the right to spend unlimited amounts of money on elections.

The practice of lobbying provides a forum for the resolution of conflicts among often diverse and competing points of view; provides information, analysis, and opinion to legislators and government leaders to allow for informed and balanced decision making; and creates a system of checks and balances that allows for competition among interest groups, keeping any one group from attaining a permanent position of power.

Lobbyists can help the legislative process work more effectively by providing lawmakers with reliable data and accurate assessments of a bill's effect. The role lobbyists play in the legislative arena can be compared to that of lawyers in the judicial arena. Just as lawyers provide the trier of fact judge or jury with points of view on the legal issues pertaining to a case, so do lobbyists provide local, state, and federal policymakers with points of view on public policy issues.

Although lobbying as a whole serves as a checks-and-balances safeguard on the legislative process, individual lobbyists are not necessarily equal. Unlike voters, who each get one vote, lobbyists vary in their degree of influence. The level of influence a lobbyist has over the legislative process is often proportional to the resources—time and money—the lobbyist can spend to achieve its legislative goal. Some people think lobbyists in general have too much power. It is not allowed to have a will of its own.

The term lobbyist has been traced to the mid-seventeenth century, when citizens would gather in a large lobby near the English House of Commons to express their views to members of Parliament.