Washington, D.C. – Campaign Legal Center senior vice president, Paul Smith, released the following statement ahead of oral arguments in the Supreme Court case Merrill v. Milligan. The case is centered on a voting map in Alabama that was struck down by a lower court for violating Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act by diluting Black Alabamians’ voting strength, restricting their ability to elect their preferred representative:

“The voting map being considered by the Supreme Court in Merrill v. Milligan is a textbook case of racial vote dilution. The map packs some Black voters into a single district and divides other clusters of Black voters into multiple districts, diluting the voices of Black Alabamians. This practice deprives Black voters of an equal opportunity to participate in the political process.

The Supreme Court must take this opportunity to reaffirm the strength of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, one of the last remaining tools to challenge voting maps that dilute the political influence of minority voters. We hope the Supreme Court will side with Black Alabamians and prevent politicians from drawing unfair voting maps that drown out Black voices. Moreover, this case illustrates the need for Congress to step in and pass legislation that uniformly protects the freedom to vote in every state.”

Campaign Legal Center has been involved in several lawsuits challenging racial vote dilution in voting maps. In July 2022, Campaign Legal Center filed a friend-of-the-court brief arguing that Alabama’s attacks on Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act are unfounded. The brief offers several remedies the state of Alabama could take that does not dilute Black voices while still satisfying Alabama’s other policy priorities.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Trevor Potter, president of Campaign Legal Center (CLC), and a Republican Former Chairman of the Federal Election Commission (FEC), released the following statement:

“Yesterday, H.R. 8990, the Combatting Financial Conflicts of Interest in Government Act, was formally introduced in the United States House of Representatives. Public polling confirms that most Americans support banning lawmakers from trading stocks, and it is therefore crucial that the House passes this legislation.

As members of Congress craft laws that directly impact the lives of Americans, voters have a right to know whether their representatives are acting in the interest of the public, or in ways that serve their own personal interest. Congress passed the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act into law ten years ago, but the STOCK Act did not decrease the appearance of corruption that arises when members of Congress engage in suspicious stock trades.

At the top of the public’s mind are legitimate concerns over conflicts of interest that may arise when an elected official has a financial stake in an area over which they have significant influence. The Combatting Financial Conflicts of Interest in Government Act, designed with the shortcomings of the STOCK Act in mind, will work to repair that trust by banning members of Congress from trading stock while in office and prohibiting such activity by their spouses, dependent children, and senior staff. The law establishes significant penalties to promote compliance, an area where the STOCK Act fell woefully short. To comply with the new law, officials may transfer their investments to a blind trust to avoid conflicts of interest.

Although this bill has room for improvement concerning the scope of covered officials and potential loopholes, it answers voters’ calls for reform and I urge every member of the House to vote in favor of the Combatting Financial Conflicts of Interest in Government Act.” 

WASHINGTON, D.C. – In a strong bipartisan vote of 14-1, the Senate Rules Committee advanced the Electoral Count Reform Act (ECRA) in the legislative process yesterday afternoon. The bill was supported by both Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY). In its current form, the ECRA has 11 Republican cosponsors and 11 Democratic cosponsors.

Trevor Potter, founder and president of Campaign Legal Center (CLC) and Republican Former Chairman of the Federal Election Commission, issued the following statement:

“The bipartisan nature of this proposal to bring the Electoral Count Act into the 21st century is significant and historic. It’s notable that in the last week, both chambers of Congress have taken significant steps toward updating the ECA. We commend the bipartisan, bicameral efforts that are underway to address this archaic law’s most serious vulnerabilities. We now call on members of the Senate and House to work together to come to a consensus and enact the strongest possible legislation before the end of the year. Partisan actors are already laying the groundwork to succeed where they failed in 2020, seeking opportunities to change the rules when election outcomes do not align with their goals. With the 2024 presidential election right around the corner, time is running out. An updated ECA is urgently needed to protect the will of the people. Congress must meet this moment.”

The Electoral Count Act (ECA) has not been updated since it was first enacted more than 130 years ago, and it is rife with imprecise language, gaps and ambiguities that partisan actors attempted to exploit as part of an organized effort to overturn the 2020 election. Although this plan failed, the obscure language of the ECA remains ripe for manipulation.

ATLANTA, GA. – The state of Georgia has agreed to resolve the claims of plaintiff VoteAmerica, a civic engagement group, in a federal lawsuit filed by Campaign Legal Center against Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. The resolution of these claims affirms that the anti-voter law S.B. 202’s restrictions on absentee ballot application distribution do not apply to voter engagement tools like VoteAmerica’s, which requires the voter themselves to initiate the request to the third-party organization for an absentee ballot application. The agreed upon stipulation of dismissal, filed with the court yesterday, effectively allows VoteAmerica to proceed with their voter engagement model as is.  

Signed into law in 2021, S.B. 202 limits the ability of nonprofit civic engagement organizations to distribute absentee ballot applications to Georgia voters in violation of the First Amendment. CLC, along with the law firm Smith, Gambrell, and Russell LLP, continues to challenge the law as the case moves forward with remaining plaintiffs Voter Participation Center and the Center for Voter Information, who have a different approach to voter engagement than VoteAmerica and continue to be directly impacted by the burdensome prohibitions of S.B. 202.  

“This is a victory for Georgia voters and for VoteAmerica, even as we keep fighting in the courts for groups still negatively impacted by S.B. 202,” said Danielle Lang, senior director for voting rights at Campaign Legal Center. “We look forward to coordinating with our partners in Georgia to help inform and educate other organizations with models like VoteAmerica’s that they can continue their voter outreach efforts. The collective work of these organizations to assist voters and strengthen our democracy should be commended instead of being called into question or halted by frivolous, anti-voter laws.” 

"The team at VoteAmerica is celebrating this win for voters," says Daniel McCarthy, VP of Finance and Operations for VoteAmerica. "VoteAmerica stands firmly in its position that Georgia's interference in our association with and assistance to Georgia voters who request it is anti-democratic and unconstitutional. VoteAmerica will continue to pursue just fights with any state that stands in the way of our mission to support all eligible voters, to increase voter turnout and to strengthen American democracy."

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