FSFP and National Election Defense Coalition Demand Records on Texas’s Voting Machine Problems Posted on November 28, 2018 Free Speech For People and our partners at the National Election Defense Coalition today submitted a request for records under the Texas Public Information Act for information about a serious voting machine problem that manifested during the 2018 general election. Background About 82 of Texas’s 254 counties (including some of its most populous) use the obsoleteRead More
Split Decision from the Ninth Circuit on the Alaska Campaign Finance Challenge Posted on November 27, 2018 Today, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued a 2-1 decision in Thompson v. Hebdon, a case in which we filed an amicus brief. The court struck down Alaska’s limit on nonresident political contributions, over an important dissent by the chief judge of the circuit. Background The case involved challenges to fourRead More
Center for Public Integrity Reports on Our Fight Against Special Cryptocurrency Loophole Posted on November 19, 2018 (November 19, 2018) The Center for Public Integrity reported on Free Speech For People’s efforts to fight a cryptocurrency company’s request for a special loophole that could seriously undermine federal campaign finance law. As the article by Ashley Balcerzak explains: OsiaNetwork LLC, a newly formed limited liability company in Delaware, has asked the Federal Election Commission whether it’s legal for people to shareRead More
Center for Responsive Politics: Millions in Masked Money Funneled into 2018 Elections Posted on November 16, 2018 (November 16, 2018) In a report by The Center For Responsive Politics, spending by groups that only partially disclose their donors and by secret money groups dominated the 2018 midterm election cycle. According to federal election records at the time of reporting: Partially-disclosing groups have already reported $405 million in 2018 election spending…This is the third consecutive electionRead More
Watch: John Bonifaz and Jennifer Taub at the Nobody is Above the Law Rally Posted on November 15, 2018 (November 15, 2018) On November 10, 2018, Free Speech For People President, John Bonifaz, and Board Member, Jennifer Taub, spoke at a ‘Nobody is Above the Law’ rally in Northampton, MA. Similar rallies took place across the country in response to the President’s latest move to obstruct justice, by firing Attorney General Jeff Sessions (who had appropriately recusedRead More
Buckley v. Valeo, 43 Years Later Posted on November 13, 2018 (November 13, 2018) This past weekend marked the 43rd anniversary of the oral arguments in Buckley v. Valeo, the 1976 Supreme Court case that set the foundation for four decades of problematic and often unworkable jurisprudence impeding society’s ability to put limits on the influence of big money in elections. But on November 10, 1975, when the lawyersRead More
Formal Request for Quo Warranto Against Matthew Whitaker Posted on November 9, 2018 Free Speech For People issued an urgent request to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jessie Liu for quo warranto proceedings against Matthew Whitaker for unlawfully usurping and exercising the office of Attorney General of the United States. On Wednesday, November 7, 2018, at the request of PresidentRead More
Ron Fein and Ben Clements Speak at the Boston #NotAbovetheLaw Rally Posted on November 9, 2018 (November 15, 2018) Impeachment On November 8, 2018, Free Speech For People Legal Director Ron Fein and Board Chair Ben Clements spoke at the Boston #NotAbovetheLaw rally regarding the importance of protecting the Mueller investigation and pursuing impeachment to challenge the President’s egregious violations of the Constitution and abuses of office. The #NotAbove theLaw rallies took place last nightRead More
Shanna Cleveland on the Legal Edition: How Money & Politics are Hijacking the Constitution Posted on November 1, 2018 Free Speech For People Senior Counsel Shanna Cleveland joined Attorney Mary Kay Elloian on the Legal Edition to discuss how “corporate personhood,” a fiction designed decades ago by a lawyer for Big Tobacco, is hijacking our US Constitution. Learn how Citizens United has its roots in Big Tobacco and learn what is needed for aRead More
New campaign finance reform book, and a free chapter on the 28th Amendment Posted on October 26, 2018 (December 17, 2018) Democracy Amendments In April 2016, Free Speech For People co-hosted a symposium at Seton Hall School of Law featuring scholars and activists from across the country to help develop new thinking and proposed solutions for overhauling our nation’s campaign finance system. The ideas presented at that symposium led to the new book, ‘Democracy by the People: Reforming Campaign Finance in America’.Read More