As Congress debated the so-called “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” two little-known and dangerous provisions quietly emerged as serious threats to our core democratic safeguards. Thankfully, both have now been resoundingly defeated.
Because of Campaign Legal Center’s efforts, alongside the tireless work of many of our partners, both threats were removed from the legislation before the U.S. Senate’s final vote. This victory demonstrates how advocacy to preserve American democracy remains a worthy fight.
One provision would have weakened the ability of courts to enforce the law, in a direct attack on our system of checks and balances. The other aimed to block states from regulating artificial intelligence (AI), including its use in elections.
The House of Representatives approved both policies when it originally passed the budget reconciliation bill, leading CLC to sound the alarm and fight to remove these provisions in the Senate.
Learn more about the dangerous provisions Campaign Legal Center opposed here.
CLC experts were quoted about the need to defeat these harmful provisions in Reuters, USA TODAY, PolitiFact and other notable outlets.
Protecting Judicial Independence
The first provision that CLC helped defeat raised deep concerns about judicial independence and the rule of law.
In the House’s initial version, this policy would have severely limited judges’ ability to enforce their own rulings and to hold government officials accountable when they break the law. Alarmingly, it would have also retroactively undermined thousands of existing court orders across every imaginable area.
If enacted, this proposal could have allowed government officials to violate court orders with impunity, while helping the Trump administration try to evade nearly 200 judicial rulings that have already halted its activities.
Following significant pressure from CLC and other advocates, the Senate revised this provision to exclude the portion that would have applied retroactively. However, the edited version still posed a serious risk: it would have required plaintiffs to pay massive financial fees before a judge could halt illegal government actions.
Under this policy, everyday Americans could have been priced out of the justice system, effectively insulating the government from most legal challenges.
As CLC and our partners continued to oppose this provision, all versions were eventually stripped out of the final legislation. This threat was successfully defeated as a violation of Senate rules and rebuked as an unacceptable attack on judicial independence.
The removal of this provision will help preserve the courts’ essential role in upholding our Constitution and the rule of law.
CLC is proud of the role we played in protecting our system of checks and balances from this dangerous policy. No government official, including the president, should be able to simply ignore or evade court rulings they dislike.
Moving forward, we stand ready to continue opposing this proposal in any form.
Preserving States’ Ability to Regulate Artificial Intelligence in Elections
The second provision CLC identified and opposed would have harmed voters by compelling states to give up their right to regulate AI, including laws governing AI's use in our elections.
This proposal was especially troubling given the growing risks AI technology can create for democracy, including deceptive content that misleads voters or even discourages turnout. Over 20 states, led by both Republicans and Democrats, have already passed laws to address these challenges.
The House’s original bill called for an outright, 10-year ban on all state and local AI regulations. But after pushback from CLC, as well as advocates and elected officials across the political spectrum, the Senate repeatedly watered down this proposal.
And during the Senate’s floor vote, CLC and our partners ultimately secured another win for democracy, pushing lawmakers to vote 99-1 on an amendment that removed all versions of this provision from the final legislation.
This outcome ensures that states can continue to take proactive measures to respond to emerging threats from AI. Congress is not off the hook though, and it should still pass federal safeguards to protect voters from the risks of AI too.
For now, during a time when trust and truth in our democracy are already under threat, a new danger has at least been averted thanks to CLC’s efforts.
Ultimately, Campaign Legal Center’s advocacy was instrumental in defeating these two dangerous provisions of the budget bill that threatened core democratic safeguards.
Support our work today so we can continue to defend the rule of law and ensure that voters, not technology or unchecked power, shape the future of our country.
