WATCH: Voting Rights are On the Line in Texas Posted on October 27, 2021 (October 27, 2021) Election Protection Last month, Texas enacted one of the country’s most restrictive voting laws in the modern era. With measures targeting many of the voting methods used during the COVID-19 pandemic, lawmakers largely suppressed votes from Texans of color and other marginalized communities. This law is an assault on democracy in Texas. That’s why we filed aRead More
The Hill: Trump’s ‘treason’ talk is unprecedented, un-American Posted on February 14, 2018 Democracy Amendments As a piece in The Hill today noted, President Trump recently suggested congressional Democrats were guilty of “treason” for failing to applaud his State of the Union speech. As he put it, “Can we call that treason? Why not?” Here’s why not: The Constitution specifically defines treason, and failing to applaud the president isn’t treason—not by a longRead More
What the Ninth Circuit’s Prostitution Decision Can Teach Us About Money in Politics Posted on January 29, 2018 (October 3, 2018) Democracy Amendments A federal court of appeals just rejected a case challenging prostitution laws as unconstitutional. A Newsweek piece published this Saturday—as it happens, the anniversary of oral argument in the case that created super PACs—explained how this decision, perhaps unexpectedly, shows what’s wrong with the way the Supreme Court thinks about money in politics. The analysis draws on scholarship byRead More
Apple vs. FBI Is Not A Free Speech Matter Posted on March 28, 2016 (October 2, 2018) A Boston Globe staff editorial discussing Apple’s First Amendment claims in a legal dispute with the FBI, quotes our Legal Director Ron Fein.Read More
Apple’s Fight with the FBI is the Corporate Personhood Case of 2016 Posted on March 22, 2016 (November 29, 2018) Legal Director Ron Fein published a piece on Truthout, discussing Apple’s ongoing legal feud with the FBI about unlocking an iPhone belonging to terror suspects and what this means for corporate constitutional rights. Read More
Boston Globe: “Corporations Can’t Hide Behind First Amendment” Posted on March 21, 2016 (October 2, 2018) A new editorial in the Boston Globe explains the case and why “corporations can’t hide behind the First Amendment” on the issue of labeling conflict minerals from a war-torn region. Read More
A California Judge Rejects Cell Phone Industry’s “Corporate Speech” Lawsuit Against Berkeley Posted on September 22, 2015 (November 29, 2018) On Monday, a federal judge in California rejected industry’s latest attempt to use the First Amendment to avoid making consumer disclosures.Read More
U.S. Court of Appeals Reaches Decision in National Association of Manufacturers v. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Posted on August 18, 2015 (June 15, 2016) Today, a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit issued an opinion holding that publicly-traded corporations have a First Amendment right to hide whether their products contain conflict minerals from the war-torn Democratic Republic of the Congo. (See here for background on the case and our amicus brief.) Read More
Corporations Are Perverting the Notion of Free Speech Posted on August 4, 2015 (October 2, 2018) Our Legal Advocacy Director, Ron Fein and Harvard Law Professor John C. Coates IV are featured today in Newsweek, in a piece titled “Corporations Are Perverting the Notion of Free Speech.” Read More