In an op-ed for The Hill, Campaign Legal Center senior researcher Roger Wieand examines the modern phenomenon of wealthy political donors snagging highly-coveted ambassadorial posts. The piece points out that every president of the modern era - from Reagan to Biden - has awarded about 30 to 40 percent of ambassadorships to political appointees...
Federal candidates cannot raise or spend money outside of federal campaign finance rules to support their campaign. This “soft money” ban applies to money raised through a state PAC, as states and municipalities have vastly different rules from the Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA) regarding what sources an entity or campaign can raise money...
As long as America has had representative democracy, civic-minded folks have worked tirelessly to ensure their neighbors could access it—registering people to vote, holding voter education events and promoting civic engagement.
Nonpartisan civic engagement groups, composed of civic-minded Americans, have long been a central pillar in our...
In 2018, Campaign Legal Center (CLC) built RestoreYourVote.org and RecupereSuVoto.org, a first-of-its-kind tool to help Americans who have been impacted by the criminal legal system understand their voting rights.
Since then, RestoreYourVote.org has been cited by the Department of Justice and visited by over 300,000 unique visitors -- and now...
The 2024 elections are still over a year away, but potential contenders for the White House have begun actively exploring candidacy, and some have even officially declared. As some hopefuls are already pushing the legal boundaries governing these exploratory activities, they might reflect on a recent decision by the Federal Election Commission (FEC...
Soft money – money raised and spent on federal elections that doesn’t comply with federal campaign finance laws – undermines transparency and accountability in our elections.
A new supplemental complaint filed by Campaign Legal Center (CLC) and NRDC Action Votes with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) provides additional information in...
Over the past few years, attacks on our democracy—from extreme gerrymandering to January 6 to the dozens of anti-voter bills passed at the statewide level—have been marked by a common theme: a pernicious desire to silence voters’ voices and subvert the will of the people.
2023’s state legislative sessions have seen that troubling trend continue...
Campaign Legal Center's virtual event, "Rights Restoration and the Criminalization of Voting" was held on May 8, 2023 and featured a panelist discussion on the issue of felony disenfranchisement.
Over 5 million Americans are currently silenced in our democracy because of a past felony conviction. This level of disenfranchisement is a product of...
Nonpartisan civic engagement groups, which assist citizens in their efforts to engage with the political process, have long played a vital role in our democracy. Yet their endeavors are increasingly coming under attack by state legislatures across the country.
In a victory for the voters of Kansas, a federal court hampered this anti-democratic...
Voters have a right to know whether officials in the federal government are prioritizing public good or their own personal financial interests.
Congress passed the Ethics in Government Act in 1978 with the goal of increasing public trust in government and building confidence that public servants were indeed acting in the public’s best interest...
On May 2, the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary held a hearing on Supreme Court ethics reform. CLC’s Vice President, General Counsel, and Senior Director of Ethics Kedric Payne was one of five witnesses providing testimony for the hearing.
CLC’s testimony focused on how the Supreme Court’s ethics rules lag decades behind the executive and...
In March 2023, Americans for Prosperity (AFP) and the Americans for Prosperity Foundation (AFPF) filed a federal lawsuit seeking suit seeking to overturn Arizona’s newly enacted Proposition 211, also known as the Voters’ Right to Know Act.
On April 28, 2023, CLC Action (CLCA) filed a motion for Voters’ Right to Know (VRTK) to intervene as a...
The right to vote is a basic American freedom—and when that freedom is abridged, our democracy suffers. This week, Campaign Legal Center (CLC) joined forces with local advocacy groups to fight back against barriers blocking the right to vote, filing a lawsuit challenging part of Louisiana’s felony disenfranchisement scheme.
We can’t have an...
Last week, the North Carolina Supreme Court issued a trio of disappointing decisions rolling back fundamental protections against partisan gerrymandering, revoking voting rights for individuals with a felony conviction and reinstating a racially discriminatory voter ID requirement.
Make no mistake, these decisions are a huge step back for...
It’s apparent that there’s a real crisis of faith in our democracy. Our elected officials are not as responsive to the will of the people as they should be, largely due to wealthy special interests spending big money to influence our vote and our government to rig the system in their favor.
The Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA) was designed...
Campaign Legal Center's virtual event, "Rights Restoration and the Criminalization of Voting," will be held on May 8, 2023 at 1 PM EST. Please join members of CLC's Voting Rights team and other experts on the issue of felony disenfranchisement.
RSVP to receive a link to the event.
Over 5 million Americans are currently silenced in our...
Campaign Legal Center’s “Democracy Decoded” podcast has been announced as the winner of two Webby Awards – one for the judged Webby Award for Podcasts - Public Service & Activism 2023, as well as the publicly voted People’s Voice Award in this same category.
The Webbys, dubbed “The Internet’s Highest Honor” by the New York Times, is presented...
Campaign Legal Center's virtual event, "Stock Trading Everywhere All at Once: Public Conflicts & Financial Servants" was held on April 20, 2023 and featured a panelist discussion about the issue of stock trading across all three branches of government.
Ethics issues have long been a driver for public distrust among elected officials. Despite key...
All eyes are on Tennessee this week following the expulsion of two democratically-elected state house members, representing approximately 130,000 Tennesseans in Nashville and Memphis, the state’s most diverse cities.
Both the ousted legislators are young, Black men. The move raises serious concerns about the Legislature’s racial motivations...
Campaign Legal Center has sent a letter to the Judicial Conference requesting that it exercise its power under federal law to refer Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas to the U.S. Attorney General for willfully failing to disclose gifts of free travel that he has received for over twenty years. If it is found that he intentionally violated the...
Campaign Legal Center's virtual event, "Stock Trading Everywhere All at Once: Public Servants & Financial Conflicts," will be held on April 20, 2023 at 1 PM EST. Please join members of CLC's ethics team and other experts on the issue of ethics.
RSVP to receive a link to the event.
45 years ago, the Ethics in Government Act was enacted to put...