Georgia Governor Brian Kemp signed a bill this week that fixes the most problematic parts of Georgia’s failed ‘exact match’ system.

The system placed more than 50,000 voter registrations on hold before the 2018 elections because of discrepancies between government records. A coalition of Georgia civil rights groups – represented by Campaign Legal...

In New Mexico Governor Lujan Grisham signed into law a set of reforms that will help ensure voters in the state know who is spending money to influence elections.

The Governor’s signature is an exclamation point at the end of a 60-day legislative session that included significant advances for democracy reform. The list of reforms enacted this year...

Tennessee Secretary of State Tre Hargett is proposing new restrictions and penalties that are not right for the Volunteer State.

Hargett is targeting groups that help residents register to vote in Tennessee with penalties for mistakes in voter registration applications that will stymie volunteer registration drives. The bill puts volunteers and...

For those who hoped the departure of secretary Ryan Zinke signaled an end to the Department of the Interior’s (DOI) disregard for ethics rules, the nomination of acting secretary David Bernhardt to head Interior shows no cause for optimism, according to an op-ed in Morning Consult today. The piece, co-authored by CLC’s Delaney Marsco and Brendan...

On April 23, the United States Supreme Court will hear a challenge to Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross’s decision to ask every household in the country about the citizenship status of its members during the 2020 census.

Two separate federal courts have held that the sole justification provided by Secretary Ross – that obtaining this information...

The oil and gas industry has friends in high places at the Department of the Interior, and they know it.

A news report by Reveal/Politico showed that the oil and gas executives who make up an influential oil industry lobbying group called the Independent Petroleum Association of America (IPAA) were recorded bragging about the “direct access” they...

For 22 months, prominent Trump critics focused on Special Counsel Mueller’s investigation as a magic bullet, with sights set on charging President Trump with a crime.

Now that Attorney General William Barr has sent a four-page letter summarizing Mueller’s report, which concludes that Mueller was unable to establish that the Trump campaign...

On Tuesday, Mar. 26, 2019, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments about the intentional manipulation of voting maps by Republicans in North Carolina and Democrats in Maryland for partisan political gain.

Voters nationwide are ready for a ruling that will put the voters and not lawmakers first. It is still possible for voters in North Carolina...

In November 2018, Florida voters overwhelmingly voted to restore voting rights to people with past felony convictions by passing Amendment 4 -  the Rights Restoration Amendment.  Now, the state legislature is working to undue the will of more than 60 percent of the voters who supported restoring voting rights to people with past convictions in...

The presidential election is generally portrayed as a battle to win states and their accompanying electoral votes. Last night in a CNN town hall, presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren railed against this system, saying “We need to make sure that every vote counts. I think everybody ought to have to come and ask for your vote.” The fact that...

In 2016, California took a significant step forward in the fight for everyone to be represented and have a say in our democracy with Senate Bill 1107 (SB 1107). The 2016 law paved the way for California’s state and local governments to establish public financing programs to support candidates running in state and local elections.

On Thursday...

The Federal Election Commission (FEC) fined U.S. Senator Ted Cruz $35,000 for inaccurately reporting the source of campaign loans totaling $1,064,000, a violation of federal law, stemming from a complaint filed by Campaign Legal Center (CLC) and Democracy 21 in 2016.

After concluding their investigation, the FEC found Cruz obtained loans from...

On the first day of the new Congress in January 2019, the U.S. House of Representatives introduced its first bill – For the People Act – or HR 1. Last week, the House passed the bill, which is a giant step toward addressing the most pressing challenges of our democracy.

Given the troubling injuries to our democracy inflicted by several recent...

A record fine was handed down by the Federal Election Commission (FEC) following an August 2016 complaint by Campaign Legal Center (CLC).

The FEC’s investigation found that the Chinese owned corporation, American Pacific International Capital, Inc. (APIC) and pro-Jeb Bush super PAC “Right to Rise,” both broke the federal law that guards American...

In our democracy, every voice should be heard, and every vote should count equally. But in North Carolina and other states across the country, politicians are choosing their voters instead of the other way around.

Campaign Legal Center (CLC) released this video highlighting the stories of voters whose voices were silenced in North Carolina when...

Even before this week’s hearing before the House Oversight Committee, Michael Cohen had stated that he made the hush money payments at Trump’s direction. He has already pleaded guilty in court in a criminal proceeding to violating federal campaign finance law by making these payments. Directing someone to commit  illegal acts is itself a crime. 

C...

Texas federal judge Fred Biery has ordered Texas counties to pause their planned voter purge. Texas is “not to send any notice of examination letters nor remove voters from registration without prior approval of the Court.”

CLC represents the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), and individual plaintiff Julie Hilberg in the case.

Thi...

Campaign Legal Center (CLC) filed three new complaints with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) alleging that Skytron, LLC, Alpha Marine Services, and 3M Company violated the prohibition on active federal contractors making political contributions.

A prohibition that has been on the books for 75 years and repeatedly upheld, the federal...

The ethics issues that plagued the Department of the Interior under former Secretary Ryan Zinke may have extended far beyond the former Secretary, according to a new complaint filed by the Campaign Legal Center (CLC).

Several senior members of the Department of the Interior appear to have repeatedly violated revolving door ethics prohibitions by...

As Congress holds hearings on the pro-democracy reform bill, HR 1, members of Congress are learning about public financing reforms that are new to the federal government, but have been bubbling up at the state and local level – the laboratories of democracy – for years.

Voters and legislators at the state and local level are introducing or...

In final stretch of 2018 race, $50.7 million was spent on independent expenditures subject to disclosure, but only eight percent was accounted for, according to a new CLC analysis.

A D.C. District Court decision last year held the promise of secret money becoming less secret. But new reports show that the public is still largely being kept in the...