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On May 20, 2021, Campaign Legal Center (CLC) and Issue One (IO) submitted a letter to the Federal Election Commission (FEC) Commissioner Sean Cooksey urging his support for a rulemaking petition to ban lawmakers from using leadership PAC funds for personal expenses.
CLC filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) alleging that the Democratic dark money group Big Tent Project Fund, which spent nearly $5 million in the 2020 Democratic presidential primary and appears to have a major purpose of influencing federal elections, violated the law by failing to register as a political committee and publicly disclose its donors.
On May 19, 2021, Campaign Legal Center (CLC) filed suit against the Federal Election Commission (FEC) for failing to act on our administrative complaint demonstrating that the Big Tent Project Fund, a nonprofit 501(c)(4) corporation, violated federal campaign finance law by failing to register as a political committee, to publicly disclose its donors, and to report all of its independent expenditures exceeding $250. CLC's administrative complaint has been pending with the FEC for more than a year.
On May 12, 2021, Campaign Legal Center (CLC) filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) alleging that unknown donors secretly gave $75,000 to the Democratic super political action committee (PAC) Lone Star Forward in the name of "Tomfoolery LLC," which does not appear to exist.
Paul Smith, Campaign Legal Center's (CLC) vice president of litigation & strategy, testified on the Supreme Court's approach to deciding constitutional issues and the importance of fact-finding. He discusses two Supreme Court decisions, Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission and Shelby County v. Holder, to show how the Supreme Court made factual misjudgments in deciding those cases.
On April 25, 2021, Campaign Legal Center (CLC) submitted this statement to the Maine legislature in support of L.D. 1417, a bill that seeks to protect Maine elections from the potential for corruption and the appearance of corruption by banning direct corporate contributions to candidates. CLC supports this bill, with suggested amendments, because it aims to ensure that candidates and elected officials answer to their constituents and not just to the influence of wealthy special interests.
On April 23, 2021, Campaign Legal Center (CLC) posted messaging guidance for this case, advising that a case about the constitutionality of California’s confidential tax reporting law should not be permitted to dilute the Court’s well-established precedents upholding transparency laws. Permitting the wealthy and powerful to exempt themselves from disclosure to avoid a critical public response would harm political transparency laws and undercut the free flow of information and robust debate the First Amendment is meant to protect.
On April 20, 2021, Campaign Legal Center (CLC) explained why the defendant's motion to dismiss should be denied. Among other things, the defendant's arguments fail to identify any constitutional defect in the Federal Election Campaign Act's (FECA) long-standing private right of action to use administrative complainants to pursue civil enforcement of the law in certain, limited circumstances, which promotes the First Amendment right to access information about who is spending money to influence federal elections.
On April 8, 2021, Giffords and Campaign Legal Center Action (CLCA) supplemented their complaint filed with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) alleging that the National Rifle Association's (NRA) super PAC, the NRA Victory Fund, violated its reporting obligations.
On April 7, 2021, Campaign Legal Center (CLC) filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) alleging that Sen. Ted Cruz's campaign committee, Ted Cruz for Senate, violated federal law by using up to $18,000 in campaign funds on Facebook ads promoting the sale of Cruz's book.
On April 1, 2021, Campaign Legal Center (CLC), Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), Common Cause and League of Women Voters of California (LWV) submitted an amicus brief urging the Supreme Court to uphold California’s law that requires charitable groups active in the state to file nonpublic tax reports – Schedule Bs – with the state Attorney General (AG) listing their largest donors.
On March 31, 2021, Campaign Legal Center Action (CLCA) and Common Cause Georgia filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) alleging that True the Vote and the Georgia Republican Party violated federal campaign finance law by illegally coordinating ahead of the January 2021 Senate runoff elections.
This Campaign Legal Center (CLC) report describes how the For the People Act (H.R. 1/S. 1) would end dark money and is crafted to address the real-world practices that wealthy special interests have used to keep their political donations hidden from the public.
On March 17, 2021, Campaign Legal Center (CLC) filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) alleging that Sig Sauer, Inc. violated the ban on federal contractors making political contributions when it gave $100,000 to the super PAC Gun Owners Action Fund.
On March 17, 2021, Campaign Legal Center (CLC) filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) alleging that Service Tire Truck Centers violated the ban on federal contractors making political contributions when it gave $50,000 to the super PAC Senate Leadership Fund.
On March 17, 2021, Campaign Legal Center (CLC) filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) alleging that Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. violated the ban on federal contractors making political contributions when it gave $10,000 to the super PAC Senate Leadership Fund.
On March 17, 2021, Campaign Legal Center (CLC) filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) alleging that Hamilton Company violated the ban on federal contractors making political contributions when it gave $300,000 to the super PAC Americans for Prosperity Action.
On March 17, 2021, Campaign Legal Center (CLC) filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) alleging that the Astellas Pharma US violated the ban on federal contractors making political contributions when it gave $10,000 to the super PAC Senate Leadership Fund.
On March 17, 2021, Campaign Legal Center (CLC) filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) alleging that the American College of Radiology violated the ban on federal contractors making political contributions when it gave $10,000 to the super PAC Senate Leadership Fund.