Checks and balances are a cornerstone of our democracy and prevent any one person, party or legislative body from abusing power. This morning, the Supreme Court rejected an extreme legal theory that threatened to completely upend that system.  

The fringe independent state legislature (ISL) theory at issue in Moore v. Harper would have given state...

Our democracy works best when voters have complete and accurate information about who’s spending money to influence elections. In addition to informing voters about where political money is coming from, electoral transparency also helps ensure that our elections are safe from corruption and foreign influence. Federal campaign finance laws require...

The integrity of the electoral process depends on transparent public disclosure of who is spending money on elections. Voters have a right to know who is trying to influence their vote.

One tactic special interests use to keep their political spending secret is by enlisting a “straw donor” — which may be an individual or an LLC, trust, or other...

Following recent ballot measure victories to end secret spending in state elections, state legislators and communities around the country have taken notice and are working to prevent wealthy special interests from using unlimited, secret money to rig the political system in their favor.

After the Supreme Court’s 2010 decision in Citizens United...

Yet another troubling example of why the Supreme Court needs stronger ethics rules and an internal enforcement mechanism for handling ethical violations has surfaced — this time by way of unreported travel gifts given to Justice Samuel Alito.  

In an extremely unusual move, Justice Alito published an op-ed to rebuff and get in front of the...

In a sign of how widespread concern over the ethics of our nation’s highest court has spread, the Senate Subcommittee on Federal Courts, Oversight, Agency Action, and Federal Rights held a hearing on Supreme Court ethics on June 14th - its second in as many months - focusing on how to ensure an impartial and trustworthy judiciary. The hearing...

The Federal Election Commission (FEC), the sole government agency tasked with enforcing federal campaign finance law, has a problematic pattern of delaying public disclosure of why it chooses to dismiss complaints of alleged campaign finance violations.

But a new ruling marks a step forward in ensuring that the FEC is more accountable in its...

When Black and brown voters are forced to vote under discriminatory electoral maps, they have fewer opportunities to make their voices heard on the issues that matter most to them and elect representatives who reflect their values and will fight for their communities.  

Thankfully, on June 8, 2023 the Supreme Court issued a landmark decision that...

Following an exodus of election workers after an increase in threats, harassment, doxxing and stalking, Nevada has become the latest state to sign into law a bill that protects the everyday Americans who help keep our democracy safe and secure. 

Notably, this legislation garnered unanimous support in both chambers, a monumental feat in a state...

One thing all Americans can agree upon — no matter their political persuasion — is that our elections should be safe and secure.

For the past decade, it has been the mission of the Electronic Registration Information Center, commonly known as ERIC, to ensure just that.

The non-profit, bipartisan consortium — voluntarily joined by 32 states through...

Campaign Legal Center welcomes eight new members to our team for the summer: our 2023 class of summer legal interns. The summer interns are current law students who will work with CLC's full time staff to help advance our work in the areas of voting rights, redistricting, campaign finance, and ethics. 

Welcome, team!

Meet the Interns

Jason...

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 we...

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...

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...

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...

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...