Libertarian think tanks Cato Institute and R Street Institute, together with the Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection at Georgetown University Law Center, filed a friend of the court brief in support of voting rights. The groups argue that SB-7066’s requirement conditioning rights restoration on payment of LFOs is bad policy and violates the Fourteenth Amendment. The brief also argues that felony disenfranchisement is anti-democratic.

In January 2010, the U.S. Supreme Court ushered in a new era of big money in politics with the misguided decision Citizens United v. FEC. But even after Citizens United, Congress and state legislatures can still enact many important money-in-politics reforms that would protect the voices of voters in our democracy. This report briefly describes the six most important and impactful reforms.

The failure of the FEC to enforce campaign finance laws has resulted in an explosion in secret spending and our politics are increasingly rigged in favor of wealthy special interests. How can the FEC be fixed?

CLC has filed with the Federal Election Commission a supplemental complaint alleging that Representative Lori Trahan knowingly and willfully violated federal law by receiving approximately $300,000 in excessive contributions for her 2018 congressional campaign and falsely reporting those contributions as personal loans.  CLC’s original complaint against Lori Trahan for Congress is available here.

On January 15, 2020, CLC sent a letter to the Yakima County Commission notifying it that the current system for electing candidates to the County Commission violates the Washington Voting Rights Act by denying Latino voters an opportunity to elect candidates of their choice to the Commission.

CLC led a coalition of 21 organizations and individuals calling for the restoration of a voting quorum at the Federal Election Commission to protect the transparency and fairness of our elections.

Raysor Appellees’ Brief