Who Is Paying for Trump’s Lawsuits and Recounts?
The 2020 election cost a record-breaking $14 billion—but legal costs are continuing to pile up in the wake of Election Day, with the Trump campaign filing longshot lawsuits across the country and recounts planned in multiple states.
Who is footing the bill?
For the most part, these legal and...
The basis of American democracy is that we pick our leaders. The most important outcome of this election is not who wins or loses, but that votes are counted accurately, and the candidate chosen by the voters is elected.
Braving a pandemic, voters have done their job by turning out to vote in record numbers, and hardworking election officials...
H.R. 8718, a bill to extend the statute of limitations for those who violate campaign finance laws and ensure that they are held accountable, has been introduced by Rep. Jackie Speier to the U.S. House of Representatives. Campaign Legal Center (CLC) endorsed the legislation.
Currently, there is a five-year statute of limitations for both criminal...
As votes for the 2020 general election continue to get counted, it is clear that Virginia’s amendment to reform gerrymandering has passed. Campaign Legal Center (CLC) has been a leading national advocate for the passage of this amendment, supporting local partner OneVirginia 2021 throughout the process.
Voters have said loud and clear that they...
We are used to having more information on election night, but this year (in more ways than one) will be a little different. The pandemic not only changed how we interact with one another; it has also had a huge impact on this year’s election season.
We saw record high turnout for early in-person voting across the nation and voters have also cast...
Recent campaign finance reports reveal that Lance Harris, a Louisiana state legislator and a candidate in Louisiana’s 5th Congressional District, is bankrolling a super PAC that’s supporting his run for the U.S. House, and Campaign Legal Center (CLC) has filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission (FEC).
Until this fall, the super PAC...
Senior Trump administration officials have repeatedly violated laws and norms that protect Americans from the perils of the revolving door. Today, CLC filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Commerce Inspector General regarding another administration official who seems to have broken financial disclosure requirements and ethics rules.
Eric...
Campaign Legal Center (CLC) has long called for a functioning Federal Election Commission (FEC), with commissioners who are committed to the fair and effective enforcement of campaign finance law.
The FEC’s well-documented dysfunction has been exacerbated this election cycle by a lack of quorum, which prevented the agency from being able to...
Trevor Potter, president of Campaign Legal Center (CLC), recently participated in the National Task Force on Election Crises panel “What Happens Next: Election Task Force Experts Detail Key Flashpoints” where he explained the procedures and deadlines in place that will allow voters’ voices to be heard in the November election.
In the period...
Government contractors are prohibited from making political contributions – a long-standing ban put in place to prevent influence-peddling and corruption in the contracting process. Today, Campaign Legal Center (CLC) filed six complaints alleging that active federal contractors violated the ban by giving money to super political action committees...
It’s safe to say that Google is having a bad week. In addition to the U.S. Justice Department’s unveiling of antitrust charges against the search engine behemoth, Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson announced this week that his office plans to sue Google for violating state campaign finance disclosure laws.
The lawsuit in...
Campaign Legal Center (CLC) filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) alleging that a $150,000 donor to the Congressional Leadership Fund (CLF) appears to be a shell corporation established for the purpose of funneling secret donations to the super PAC.
Voters have a right to know who is trying to influence their vote. The...
Holding an election in the middle of a global pandemic is a huge challenge, and there’s a lot of misinformation going around about how voting could be affected, particularly because millions of Americans are expected to vote by absentee or mail ballot this fall.
Campaign Legal Center (CLC) interviewed two election officials—Adrian Fontes of...
On Oct. 22, 2020, a federal court ruled that Pima County, Arizona does not have to reinstate an early voting site during the period of Oct. 26-30 for the Pascua Yaqui Tribe. The Reservation will also have no ballot dropbox on the premises.
The Tribe, represented by Campaign Legal Center (CLC), Osborn Maledon, and the Indian Law Center at Arizona...
This article originally ran in The Fulcrum, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization exclusively focused on efforts to reverse the dysfunctions plaguing American democracy.
Millions of Americans are already voting, and concerns about possible voter intimidation have been on the rise. President Trump's comments at the first presidential debate...
Recently, Trevor Potter, president of Campaign Legal Center (CLC), joined Kara Swisher, contributing opinion writer at The New York Times, on her podcast “Sway” to discuss the legal battles shaping our democracy right now.
While the podcast highlighted many campaign finance and voting rights issues, the main focus was on CLC’s victories around...
On Oct. 19, 2020, a federal appeals court denied a motion by the state of Tennessee to block enforcement of a lower court decision to allow first-time voters who registered to vote by mail or online to vote absentee in this fall’s election if they are otherwise eligible.
While this doesn’t end the case permanently, the issue of whether first-time...
You have a right to vote. Whenever you go to vote in-person or submit a mail-in ballot (including via an election dropbox), you shouldn’t be made to feel unsafe or intimidated while exercising your fundamental rights. Your voice and your vote matter.
Voter intimidation is against the law. It's important to know that you shouldn't hesitate to...
A newly published trove of Cambridge Analytica emails and other documents from the 2016 election demonstrate how the data firm operated as a tool for a billionaire family to unlawfully influence U.S. politics and help elect President Trump.
Campaign Legal Center (CLC) has supplemented its 2016 complaint to the Federal Election Commission (FEC)...
The Campaign Legal Center (CLC) filed a complaint against Sen. Lindsey Graham for solicitating campaign donations while in a Senate building Wednesday evening.
Sen. Graham’s actions violated not only federal laws, but Senate ethics rules by asking for campaign contributions while in a federal building. The Senate Ethics Committee should conduct an...
Voters should have access to multiple ways to safely receive and return their ballots, especially amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. However, Texas voters are facing increased obstacles to submitting their completed ballots in the November general election.
The problems voters face stem from the compounding effects of multiple forms of voter...