Latest Developments in Montana Contribution Limits Case Posted on September 2, 2015 (September 3, 2015) On Tuesday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued an order denying Montana’s petition for rehearing en banc in Montana’s contribution limits case. Ron Fein provides a quick background and our analysis after the jump.Read More
Corporations Continue to Claim Constitutional Rights in Seattle Living Wage Case Posted on September 2, 2015 (September 2, 2015) This Tuesday, lawyers argued before a federal appeals court panel in Seattle, to contend whether the city’s new minimum wage violates the equal protection rights of franchised business corporations. Free Speech For People filed an amicus brief in support of the city, arguing that the Fourteenth Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause protects people, not corporations, and in particular that living wages were a central concern of the Fourteenth Amendment’s drafters. Our local counsel in Seattle, Harry Williams, attended the oral argument and submits this report.Read More
FSFP Launches New Blog To Lift Up Republican Voices Against Money In Politics Posted on September 1, 2015 (September 9, 2016) Free Speech For People recently launched acrosstheaisle.us as an interactive blog to share the thoughts of more than 150 Republican officials, prominent at the federal and state level, who oppose Citizens United. Read More
Free Speech For People and Public Good Law Center File Amicus Brief in Support of Vermont Consumers’ Right to Know What’s in Their Food Posted on September 1, 2015 (October 2, 2018) On Monday, Free Speech For People and the Public Good Law Center filed an amicus brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, defending a Vermont law (Act 120) that requires food sold in Vermont and produced with genetic engineering to be labeled “produced with genetic engineering.”Read More
Appeals Court Upholds SEC Rule Limiting Contributions by Investment Managers Posted on August 27, 2015 (November 29, 2018) On Tuesday, a three-judge panel on the Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit upheld a five-year long SEC rule that limits contributions by investment managers, in a case brought forward by the New York Republican State Committee and the Tennessee Republican Party.Read More
WhoWhatWhy: Court’s “Joke” Benefits Corporations While Others Suffer Posted on August 26, 2015 (August 27, 2015) Today, Ron Fein is quoted in a piece by Klaus Marre on WhoWhatWhy.Org, discussing why the myth of corporate personhood continues to challenge our democracy and gain grounds in the federal courts.Read More
Ron Fein Joins AM950 Of Minnesota To Discuss Conflict Mineral Case Posted on August 25, 2015 (September 27, 2015) On August 21, Ron Fein joined Minnesota radio program, AM950 to discuss a critical ruling in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, which ruled in favor of businesses and their “first amendment” right not to disclose whether their minerals are sourced from conflict-torn areas, like the Congo.Read More
End-of-summer Reflection: Money, Politics, Corporations, and the Constitution Posted on August 25, 2015 (August 26, 2015) It’s been a busy summer for those of us fighting in the courts against constitutional challenges by big money interests and corporations seeking to strike down laws on everything from campaign contribution limits to the minimum wage. We’ve seen some important victories and we have been reminded there’s still work to be done. 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
Corporate Constitutional Litigation Beats A Hasty Retreat In Los Angeles Posted on August 17, 2015 (November 29, 2018) The American Hotel & Lodging Association, which is challenging Los Angeles’s new living wage law for hotel workers, has voluntarily withdrawn 9 of the 10 claims in its complaint. This came just three weeks after Free Speech For People (along with co-signers Courage Campaign, Equal Justice Society and Western Center on Law and Poverty) filed an amicus brief in support of the City of Los Angeles.Read More