In a victory for campaign finance reform, the Senate Judiciary Committee this morning voted to advance Tom Udall’s (D-New Mexico) proposed constitutional amendment that would restore authority back to Congress, individual states, and the American people to regulate political donations and election spending.

The 28th Amendment, which would effectively overturn recent Supreme Court rulings that have increased the influence of extremely wealthy donors and corporations, will now go before the full U.S. Senate for a vote this fall.

“The amendment is crucial to strengthening and restoring the First Amendment, which has been weakened and distorted by a series of U.S. Supreme Court rulings,” Public Citizen president Robert Weissman said in a statement.

He continued: “Specifically, the amendment would overturn Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission (FEC) and its misguided holding that corporations have the same First Amendment rights as real, live, breathing human beings to influence election outcomes. It will overturn McCutcheon v. FEC, with its holding that the only justification for limits on campaign donations is to prevent criminal bribery. And it will overturn Buckley v. Valeo — the case holding that “money equals speech” and imposing Supreme Court-made constitutional obstacles to imposing limits on what can be spent on elections.”

At the committee mark-up session, which followed a June 3 public hearing, several senators spoke out passionately in favor of the amendment.

In his statement to the committee, chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) said: