Now more than ever, voters are seeking reforms to ensure a more responsive and accountable government. Thus, it is good news that the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear arguments in Elster v. City of Seattle, a challenge to Seattle’s Democracy Voucher Program, which was approved by over 60% of city voters in 2015. The program – which went into...

Michael Bloomberg poured nearly $1 billion into his run for the Democratic presidential nomination and lost. But there were a few winners from his ill-fated campaign: television stations in early primary states, a handful of political consultants, and the Democratic National Committee (DNC). 

Despite laws capping contributions to the DNC at $35...

More examples continue to emerge of members of Congress prioritizing their personal interests over the public interest. They range from the sentencing of former Rep. Duncan Hunter for spending over $150,000 of campaign funds on personal expenses to Sen. Richard Burr offloading millions of dollars of stock shortly after a closed-door Senate briefing...

Campaign Legal Center (CLC) sent a letter to members of Congress on Mar. 24, 2020, asking them to include $2 billion in the latest economic stimulus legislation to ensure the integrity of our country’s election infrastructure in the 2020 primaries and general election.

During the coronavirus pandemic, additional funding is necessary to help states...

Campaign Legal Center (CLC) is representing the grassroots group Voters Not Politicians to try to turn back a legal challenge to the democratically enacted independent redistricting commission (IRC) in Michigan. CLC will present oral arguments in the consolidated cases, Daunt v. Benson and Michigan Republican Party v. Benson on Mar. 17, 2020.

CLC...

In times of uncertainty, American citizens should be able to count on being able to vote for their candidates of choice. 

During other historically extraordinary events, like the Civil War or World War I, elections were not canceled or postponed. American citizens were able to practice one of their most basic rights – as we should be able to now...

In times of crisis and panic, it is vital that Americans can trust leaders to determine what course of action is best for the public’s health and safety. Unfortunately, when the country’s most senior official is riddled with conflicts of interest, it becomes hard to sustain that trust.

As the coronavirus outbreak continues to spread across the U.S...

In his home state of Texas, James “Trey” Trainor worked to undermine and defund the Ethics Commission tasked with regulating campaign finance laws.

Yet, on March 10, 2020 he will go before the Senate as a nominee for the Federal Election Commission (FEC) – the only government agency solely responsible for enforcing the campaign finance laws for...

On March 6, 2020, the Virginia House of Delegates passed legislation to amend the state’s constitution and reform how new congressional and legislative election maps are drawn, limiting the ability of lawmakers to redraw maps for their own political advantage. It will now go before voters on the November General Election ballot.

Virginia has long...

Senate Republicans announced they will hold a confirmation hearing next week for Federal Election Commission (FEC) nominee Trey Trainor.

Trey Trainor’s nomination as a commissioner on the Federal Election Commission (FEC) is yet another example of how the current nomination process continues to produce commissioners who are opposed to the mission...

On behalf of a coalition of 11 nonpartisan groups who advocate for a better democracy, Campaign Legal Center (CLC) sent a letter to the leadership in the Virginia House of Delegates, urging state lawmakers to put principle over party and move past its history of gerrymandering. By passing the fair maps constitutional amendment now being considered...

A three-judge panel in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit affirmed a decision by a federal district court in Jones v. DeSantis, which found that it was unconstitutional for Florida to deny people with past felony convictions the right to vote based on their inability to pay legal financial obligations (LFOs) – the fines, fees, and...

Campaign Legal Center (CLC) believes that democracy works best when all citizens can vote without barriers. That’s why CLC works to remedy state policies that make voting more difficult.

Iowa has been in the news lately, and for all the wrong reasons. Most news reports have focused on the mishandling of its important responsibility to conduct a...

In a strong display of bipartisan support, a proposed constitutional amendment to create the Virginia Redistricting Commission passed out of the House of Delegates by a wide margin of 83-15 and by the State Senate unanimously in February 2019.

At the time, Republicans maintained a slim majority in both houses of the General Assembly.

Together...

Campaign Legal Center (CLC), called for an investigation of Attorney General Bill Barr, Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen, and U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Timothy Shea for their highly unusual involvement in criminal proceedings against associates of President Donald Trump.

CLC’s complaint states their intervention in matters...

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit affirmed the district court ruling in Jones v. DeSantis, finding it unconstitutional to deny people with past felony convictions the right to vote based on their inability to pay fines, fees, and restitution.

The unanimous panel decision upholds the district court’s preliminary injunction of a...

In the wake of a court’s denial of his motion to dismiss, the Secretary of State has agreed to settle a federal voting rights lawsuit brought by two Native American Tribes and several individual voters over North Dakota’s voter ID law.

The law requires voters to present identification listing their residential street address – a substantial...

The Supreme Court opened the floodgates to corporate political spending with the 2010 decision Citizens United v. FEC. But Justice Anthony Kennedy, writing for the majority, promised that transparency of political spending would act as a check on corruption.

“With the advent of the Internet, prompt disclosure of expenditures can provide...

For the first time, the State of Maine joins numerous municipal jurisdictions across the U.S. in using ranked choice voting all of its primary and general elections.

Ranked choice voting (RCV), also known as instant runoff voting, asks voters to rank the candidates for an office in order of preference; then, when results are tallied, the votes...

A newly-created Hawaii Limited Lability Corporation (LLC) appears to have illegally laundered $150,000 in funds from unknown sources to a Maine super PAC supporting U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, new campaign finance records show.

The facts are strikingly similar to those that led to the arrest of Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman.

The Society of Young...

Asking foreign governments for dirt on political rivals is entirely permissible, and might even be good for democracy, President Trump’s lawyer told the Senate on Wednesday.

“Mere information is not something that would violate the campaign finance laws,” deputy White House counsel Pat Philbin argued at the president’s impeachment trial.  

In...