Federal Judge Castigates DOJ for Downplaying January 6 Insurrection Posted on November 3, 2021 (April 15, 2022) Challenging Corruption At a recent sentencing hearing, Chief Judge Beryl Howell of the federal district court in Washington, D.C chastised the Department of Justice for under-prosecuting the insurrectionists who stormed the Capitol on January 6. As Chief she noted, DOJ may pay lip service to the gravity of the violent Capitol takeover, but the department has prosecutedRead More
What Seattle Can Teach the Country About Fixing Our Democracy. Posted on November 2, 2021 (November 2, 2021) Defending Key Reforms Seattle’s twin campaign finance reforms—democracy vouchers, and a ban on political spending by foreign-influenced corporations—have proven their merit. By Ron Fein, Cindy Black Far from the dysfunctional tumult in Congress, Seattle has found two keys toward fixing problems that plague our democracy. The country should pay attention. America’s system for funding election campaigns is broken. MostRead More
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
FSFP Senior Advisor On Election Security Susan Greenhalgh Featured in Article on the Dangers of Online Voting. Posted on October 25, 2021 Election Protection Free Speech For People recently played a leading role in drafting and organizing a letter to members of the Senate Armed Services Committee to urge the Committee to reject provisions in the National Defense Authorization Act that would fund online voting. The letter was signed by Protect Democracy, U.S. Vote Foundation, Verified Voting, Common CauseRead More
Seattle’s Clean Campaigns Act is Successfully Keeping Foreign-Influenced Corporate Money out of City Elections. Posted on October 25, 2021 (November 2, 2021) Defending Key Reforms In January 2020, the Seattle City Council unanimously passed the Clean Campaigns Act, which bans political spending in city elections by corporations under partial foreign ownership or other forms of foreign influence. The law is working: this year’s election, unlike 2019’s, isn’t drowning in money from corporations answering to investors in other countries. And it’sRead More
Election Security Experts Alarmed by Online Voting Expansion in National Defense Authorization Act Posted on October 14, 2021 Election Protection Experts cite concerns that absentee ballots submitted electronically are vulnerable to privacy violations and hacking. WASHINGTON, D.C. (October 14, 2021) – In a letter released yesterday to the Senate Committee on Armed Services, a group of 27 election security experts and nonpartisan voting rights organizations urged the Senate to not include sections of the NationalRead More
The Nation Features Free Speech For People’s 14Point3 Campaign in John Nichols Latest Column about The Extent of Former President Trump’s Seditious Coup Attempt and His Resulting Disqualification From Future Office. Posted on October 12, 2021 (October 12, 2021) Challenging Corruption The Nation national affairs correspondent John Nichols recently published a new article on this Senate Committee report detailing the extent of former president Trump’s seditious coup attempt and the constitutional duty of election officials to abide by Section 3 of the 14th Amendment to bar him from the 2024 ballot. Here are a few excerptsRead More
Free Speech For People Seeking to Hire Public Interest Attorney Posted on October 4, 2021 (October 4, 2021) FSFP Updates Free Speech For People is seeking a public interest attorney, preferably with social justice, campaign finance, and/or election law experience, to join a cutting-edge non-profit. Free Speech For People, a national nonpartisan nonprofit organization, was founded on the day of the Supreme Court’s Citizens United v. FEC decision in January 2010. We’ve been working since then onRead More
FSFP Chairman and Senior Legal Advisor Ben Clements Authors New Oped on Why The DOJ Must Reject Calls For President Biden’s Antitrust Nominee to Recuse Himself from The Department’s Case Against Tech Titans. Posted on October 1, 2021 (October 1, 2021) Corporate Abuse of Power CommonDreams recently published a new oped by FSFP Chairman and Senior Legal Advisor Ben Clements on why the Department Of Justice must reject calls for President Biden’s nominee for Associate Attorney General for Antitrust, Jonathan Kanter, to recuse himself from the Department’s case against Google and other tech titans. In the new piece, Clements notesRead More
FSFP President John Bonifaz Discusses Legal Strategies For Getting Money Out of Politics With the BOLD ReThink Project. Posted on September 30, 2021 Defending Key Reforms FSFP President John Bonifaz recently participated in a virtual discussion with the BOLD ReThink, a public advocacy project focused on democracy reform, about innovative legal strategies for getting money out of politics and preserving a democracy of, by, and for the people. “The right to vote is a right to participate in the political processRead More