Salt Lake City, UT - Today, Campaign Legal Center (CLC), League of Women Voters of Utah (LWVUT) and Mormon Women for Ethical Government (MWEG) issued the following joint statement after the Utah Supreme Court took up our lawsuit challenging Utah's congressional redistricting map. The Utah Supreme Court also reinstated the claim that the Utah Legislature illegally repealed Proposition 4, which the lower court had previously dismissed. 

"Regardless of which court hears our case, the facts remain the same. Utah's legislature gerrymandered their congressional map to lock in power and undermined the will of voters in the process. We look forward to defending Utahns' constitutional rights at the state supreme court so every vote counts equally and every voice is heard."

More information about the lawsuit can be found here. 

On January 9, 2023, Campaign Legal Center (CLC) filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) alleging that recently elected Rep. George Santos and his 2022 campaign committee, Devolder-Santos for Congress, violated federal campaign finance laws. The complaint alleges Santos and his campaign engaged in a straw donor scheme to knowingly and willfully conceal the true sources of $705,000 that Santos purported to loan to his campaign; deliberately reporting false disbursement figures on FEC disclosure reports, among many other reporting violations; and illegally using campaign funds to pay for personal expenses, including rent on a house that Santos lived in during the campaign.

Adav Noti, Campaign Legal Center’s Senior Vice President and Legal Director, issued the following statement: 

“Voters deserve the truth. They have a right to know who is spending to influence their vote and their government and they have a right to know how the candidates competing for their vote are spending those funds. George Santos has lied to voters about a lot of things, but while lying about your background might not be illegal, deceiving voters about your campaign’s funding and spending is a serious violation of federal law. That is what we are asking the Federal Election Commission to investigate. As the agency responsible for enforcing America’s campaign finance laws, the FEC owes it to the public to find out the truth about how George Santos raised and spent the money he used to run for public office, and to ensure accountability for Santos’s illegal conduct.”



 

UPDATE: On January 10th, this complaint was sent to the Public Integrity Section of the U.S. Department of Justice to alert the Department to potential criminal violations of the federal campaign finance laws that warrant investigation.

Washington, D.C. – Today, as part of an omnibus appropriations and policy package, Congress passed legislation to update the Electoral Count Act (ECA) of 1887, an archaic law that provides the primary legal framework for casting and counting Electoral College votes in presidential elections.

“Our democracy is safer today than it was yesterday,” said Adav Noti, senior vice president and legal director of Campaign Legal Center. “By updating the Electoral Count Act, this legislation makes clear that presidential election disputes will be settled under the rule of law, not by Congress or state legislatures. We commend the members of Congress from across the political spectrum who put country over politics and moved this bill forward under challenging circumstances.”

“This strong, bipartisan legislation will go a long way in helping to safeguard the outcome of future presidential elections from bad actors seeking to distort or undermine the electoral process,” said Trevor Potter, founder and president of Campaign Legal Center. “Today we can celebrate victory, even as we acknowledge there is much more work to be done to protect elections and voters at the state and federal level.” 

The Electoral Count Reform Act (ECRA) was introduced on July 20, 2022, by a bipartisan group of senators, led by Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Joe Manchin (D-WV). Thirty-nine senators cosponsored the ECRA: 22 Democrats, 16 Republicans and one Independent.

A separate proposal to update the ECA – the Presidential Election Reform Act (PERA) – was introduced in the House by Representatives Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) and Liz Cheney (R-WY). The House passed that measure in September, which largely aligned with the ECRA and promoted the same key updates.

The original ECA contained confusing language and vulnerabilities that former President Donald Trump and his supporters tried to exploit as they attempted to overturn the 2020 election results. In 2021, CLC convened constitutional experts from across the country representing all political viewpoints to determine important updates to modernize the ECA. The new law Congress passed today includes several recommended changes:

• It prohibits state legislatures from changing the law after Election Day to overrule their voters and the results of the popular election.
• It provides procedures to resolve disputes about electors and election certifications before those disputes reach Congress.
• It strictly limits opportunities for members of Congress to second-guess states’ certified election results.
• And it clarifies the vice president’s ministerial role in the counting of electoral votes, reinforcing that the vice president does not decide election results.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the House Select Committee investigating the January 6th attack on our country issued a comprehensive report after a series of public hearings, conducting more than 1,000 interviews and reviewing hundreds of thousands of documents. The committee’s report contains detailed factual findings from its investigation, as well as a series of recommendations for policies and actions to ensure an attack like this never happens again.

Trevor Potter, founder and president of Campaign Legal Center and Republican Former Chairman of the Federal Election Commission, issued the following statement regarding the January 6th report:

“The January 6th attack on our country was a devastating example of what happens when partisan politicians sow distrust in our elections. We thank the House Select Committee members for their bipartisan work to fully investigate the circumstances of this horrific event, seek justice and hold bad actors accountable. Through a historic series of public hearings, the committee called attention to the organized attempt to overturn the 2020 presidential election results. Today’s report delves further into the details of January 6th, and we look forward to reviewing the committee’s proposals.

“Although this report concludes the committee’s work, the job of strengthening our democracy is far from over. We remind public officials at all levels of government that the ongoing threat of election manipulation must be addressed. Campaign Legal Center has previously outlined the comprehensive actions we believe are necessary to safeguard future presidential elections, and we urge lawmakers to support these policies.”