Month: May 2018

New amicus brief argues that Seattle’s democracy voucher program promotes political equality and democratic self-government

On Thursday, Free Speech For People and Demos filed an amicus brief in the Washington state court of appeals in the case of Elster v. City of Seattle. Our brief helps defend the city against a constitutional challenge to Seattle’s “democracy voucher” program, a nationally-recognized public campaign financing system enacted by voter initiative in 2015 and first
Read More

Free Speech For People and Public Citizen Issue Joint Comment to FEC on Internet Political Ads

Free Speech For People has issued a joint comment with Public Citizen encouraging the Federal Election Commission to enact stricter rules for Internet political advertisements. The well-documented Russian meddling in the 2016 election included buying ads on Facebook, Twitter, and other social media. The FEC is in mid-course on rulemaking to require disclaimers on Internet
Read More

Impeachment needs to be on the table: Ben Clements to WGBH Greater Boston

Free Speech For People’s Board Chair, Ben Clements, joins WGBH’s Greater Boston to discuss the Mueller investigation and the call for impeachment proceedings against President Trump. Talk to the American people truthfully.  This president has committed impeachable offenses every day of this administration and impeachment needs to be on the table.
Read More

President Trump is Not “Above the Law”: John Bonifaz to Democracy Now!

Free Speech For People President, John Bonifaz, joins Democracy Now! to discuss the normalizing of impeachable offenses committed by President Trump and the movement calling on Congress to begin impeachment proceedings. If we don’t act with respect to this President and the magnitude of impeachable offenses that grows by the day, then we are setting
Read More

Join us on May 20 for #Impeach45

Free Speech For People President, John Bonifaz, will join Representative Adriano Espaillat of NY and Representative Steve Cohen of TN on Sunday, May 20, for the event, #Impeach45. The speakers will discuss the grounds for impeachment proceedings against President Trump and how we are fighting back to defend our democracy and uphold the Constitution at this critical
Read More

Mother Jones: How a Court Ruling on Joe Arpaio Could Undermine Civil Rights and the Mueller Investigation

Check out this important Mother Jones article discussing Free Speech For People’s work with our allies in challenging the constitutionality of the Arpaio pardon. If the status quo stands, critics of the pardon argue, Trump can essentially nullify constitutional rights that conflict with his agenda and immunize officials who carry out his unconstitutional policies. As constitutional
Read More

FSFP Welcomes Summer 2018 Legal Interns

Free Speech For People is pleased to announce our summer 2018 legal interns. We welcome these law students to our Legal Advocacy Program and we look forward to working with them. Ryan Gorman just completed his first year at Harvard Law School. Prior to law school, he attended Emory University, where he majored in Economics
Read More

A new victory for campaign finance reform in Montana!

Free Speech For People has worked since 2014 to defend the state of Montana from wealthy and corporate interests challenging the historically low campaign contribution limits in the state.  In October 2017, the low campaign contribution limits in Montana were upheld by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, reversing a previous lower court ruling on
Read More

Victory for Women Candidates Running for Office!

In a 4-0 decision today, the Federal Election Commission determined that candidates may use campaign funds to cover childcare expenses incurred while running for political office. The matter was brought before the FEC by Liuba Grechen Shirley, a congressional candidate requiring childcare in order to campaign for office. The FEC ruled childcare was a legitimate
Read More

New Report on Impact of Seattle’s Democracy Voucher Program on Candidates’ Ability to Rely on Constituents for Fundraising

Today, Free Speech For People released a new issue report on The Impact of Seattle’s Democracy Voucher Program on Candidates’ Ability to Rely on Constituents for Fundraising. In 2015, Seattle voters enacted a novel democracy voucher program for public campaign financing. The objective of this analysis was to examine whether the democracy voucher program, first used in the
Read More