We strongly urge Representatives to vote against the amendment expected to be offered by Rep. Steve Pearce (R-NM) to reduce the proposed budget of the Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE) and keep it at its FY16 levels. This effort is nothing more than sour grapes from a Member who has had a several interactions with the Office. The OCE has played a critically important role in restoring public credibility of the congressional ethics process. The Pearce amendment should be rejected on a bipartisan basis.

As the district court found, Plaintiffs and their former attorneys filed this civil rights suit in good faith, alleging violations of the federal and state constitutions and the Voting Rights Act. Only five-and-a-half months later, Plaintiffs moved to dismiss this case without prejudice, and the district court agreed that the record at that time did not support a dismissal with prejudice. This case barely left the starting block before both parties agreed it should be dismissed, and the fact that two years later it is still the subject of court proceedings leaves one wondering “how did we get here?” 

Plaintiffs file this action seeking declaratory and injuctive relief to prevent the implementation and enforcement of the Legislature's Congressional Plan in any future election. 

Appellants respectfully move the Court, pursuant to Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 27 and Tenth Circuit Local Rule 27.3, for an order to revise the case caption to identify Luis Roberto Vera, Jr., Phillip G. Sapien, and Antonio Maestas as Appellants in this case and to lodge Appellants’ Brief (attached as Exhibit A) on their behalf. For the foregoing reasons, Appellants’ Motion should be granted.

The Campaign Legal Center, filed a brief on behalf of plaintiffs in Fairley v. Hattiesburg,urging the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit to reverse the District Court’s erroneous and dangerous rejection of their Voting Rights Act challenge to the 2012 Hattiesburg City Council redistricting plan.  The brief argues that the redistricting plan violates Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act because it deprives Black voters of an equal opportunity to elect representatives of their choice on account of their race.