Imagine receiving the following message on your telephone answering machine:
Hello, this is Betty, one of your neighbors. I’m calling to share some thoughts about voting on May 8th of this year. Let me tell you, I’m a Republican and my husband John is an Independent, and we agree on one thing--what are we doing sending Congressman McHenry back...
After the recent Ham Rove Memorial Conference Room Dedication at the Legal Center, Stephen Colbert highlighted the event last night on the Colbert Report. As Mr. Colbert stated on his show, Ham’s memory will forever live on at the Campaign Legal Center.
To watch the Ham Rove Memorial Conference Room highlights on the Colbert Report, click here.
...Last week the Republican National Committee published its Growth & Opportunity Project report “provid[ing] an honest review of the 2012 election cycle and a path forward for the Republican Party to ensure success in winning more elections.” When it comes to campaign finance policy, the RNC apparently believes that the path forward is a journey...
My participation in Legacy International’s Legislative Fellows delegation to Egypt this week has included a great deal of discussion regarding what constitutes “true” democracy. The Egyptians we’ve met have used words including “true” and “pure” to describe the democracy we have in the U.S., contrasting our system with the political system that’s...
After the recent Supreme Court argument in the Voting Rights Act case (Shelby County v. Holder), it appears the decision may well turn on the legal standards to be applied in deciding whether Section 5 of the Act, the preclearance section, has become unconstitutional with the passage of time.
The constitutional questions in the case are...
Democracy is a complicated business. That is true anywhere in the world and many of the same issues arise regardless of the continent. Redistricting I have found in Egypt is every bit as controversial as it is in Texas, in fact more so.
I am currently participating in a U.S. delegation to Egypt hosted by the nonprofits Legacy International and...
- Supreme Court Oral Argument in Voting Rights Act Challenge
- Challenge to Aggregate Contribution Limits to be heard by Supreme Court
- Supreme Court Leaves Ban on Direct Corporate Contributions Alone, Denies Cert in Danielczyk Case
- Contractor Contribution Ban Defended by Watchdogs in Appeals Court Filing
- New Hampshire Becomes First State to Bailout from...
In our earlier blog post about the pending Supreme Court case Shelby County, Alabama v. Holder we detailed reasons why the availability of Section 2 lawsuits was an inadequate substitute for Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act. As detailed in that post, enormous resources are needed to bring such a case and the burdens associated with such cases...
The 2012 election, the first Presidential election following the Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United v. FEC, was characterized by the dramatic rise of “dark money.” Most estimates calculate that the amount of money spent during the cycle by nonprofit groups that did not disclose their funders totaled as much as $400 million. Yet the...
We were both in the courtroom yesterday for the oral argument in the Shelby County, Alabama, voting rights case, and were particularly struck by one aspect of the arguments: the strange persistence of the myth that Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act is an adequate substitute for Section 5. The working theory seems to be that if Section 5 is...
The 2012 elections and the second inauguration of President Barack Obama are now behind us, and, thank goodness, the unproductive 112th Congress is long gone. As the 113th Congress begins, hope and optimism should spring anew.
But a continuing assault from all sides on our democratic process can't help but dampen enthusiasm. Even after tepid...
- Voting Rights Act Defended in Supreme Court Brief by Bailed Out Jurisdictions in Shelby County v. Holder
- Watchdogs File in Defense of Disclosure Laws in 10th Circuit in Free Speech v. FEC
- Reformers Urge House Administration Chair to Hold Hearings to Address 2012 Election Abuses & Fixes
- Office of Congressional Ethics Urged to Steer Clear of Rules...
A popular attack by critics of the Voting Rights Act is that the covered jurisdictions are being punished for the sins of their grandfathers. It’s an argument that doesn’t hold water but it doesn’t stop people from repeating it, especially in the lead-up to the oral argument in Shelby County v. Holder. Two short new videos from the Leadership...
- Supreme Court Again Comes Down On Side of Donor Disclosure, Denies Cert in Real Truth About Abortion
- FEC & DOJ Complaints Filed Over “Straw Companies” that Funneled $12 million to FreedomWorks Super PAC
- IRS Urged to Investigate American Tradition Partnership and Its Suspect Application for 501(c)(4) Status
- Crossroads GPS Application to IRS Bears No...
For many years, policies requiring public disclosure of the money spent to influence the outcome of U.S. elections had bipartisan support. The post-Watergate laws, which included a new and comprehensive disclosure regime, passed with support from both Republicans and Democrats. The 2000 law to require so-called "527" political groups to disclose...
By April, all six commissioners will be lame ducks serving expired terms. It’s long past time for a whole new crop of commissioners – ones willing to enforce the laws passed by Congress. On January 3, Legal Center Executive Director Meredith McGehee was invited to submit a guest commentary on the topic on Politix -- the political arm of Topix the...
Today, conservative groups joined reformers in calling upon House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) to reauthorize and appoint new board members to the Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE), and for President Barack Obama to nominate replacements for the 5 lame duck commissioners on the Federal Election Commission...
- Watchdogs File in Defense of Vermont’s Disclosure Laws in 2nd Circuit
- Watchdogs Question IRS Priority List Which Continues to Ignore Abuse of Tax Laws by 501(c)(4)s for Partisan Politics
- Legal Center Urges Members to Support the Empowering Citizens Act to Overhaul Broken Campaign Finance System
- Trevor Potter Delivers Keynote Address at Annenberg...
Want to know what Stephen Colbert is really like, or what the chances are for gaining bipartisan support for campaign finance reform? Here’s your chance! CLC President, Trevor Potter, participated in a Reddit “Ask Me Anything” (AMA) on Tuesday, which was followed by almost 4,000 people!
To read the full AMA, click here.
To watch behind...
Over the weekend, Legal Center President Trevor Potter appeared on Moyers & Company and dissected the funding and the takeaways from the most expensive election in American history. In his interview with host Bill Moyers, Potter puts to bed the myth that the Supreme Court’s disastrous Citizens United decision really didn’t make much difference and...
This weekend the Campaign Legal Center’s President Trevor Potter will be one of two featured guests on Moyers & Company for an informative interview entitled, “Hurricanes, Capitalism & Democracy.” Host Bill Moyers asks Potter to dissect and assess the impact of spending on the most expensive election in American history.
The segment will air...