New ground for impeachment hearings: cruel and unconstitutional imprisonment of children and their families Posted on June 22, 2018 (June 22, 2018) Impeachment We have added a new ground to our call for Congress to start hearings on whether to impeach President Trump: cruel and unconstitutional imprisonment of adults and children. Background As we noted in our statement earlier this week, under Trump’s dictate, several thousand children have been seized from their families—who were often told that theirRead More
Watch Now: Senior Counsel Shanna Cleveland on Rise Up with Sonali Posted on June 19, 2018 Senior Counsel Shanna Cleveland joined Sonali Kolhatkar to discuss Free Speech For People’s recent call to the FEC and the US Department of Justice to investigate whether a $1.6 million hush money payment was actually intended to cover up an affair between President Trump and another former Playboy model to prevent the story from damaging the President’sRead More
Our Statement on President Trump’s Policy of Breaking Up Families and Imprisoning Children Posted on June 18, 2018 Impeachment We at Free Speech For People are disgusted by Donald Trump’s policy of breaking up families and imprisoning migrant children. Under Trump’s policy, children are seized from their families—who are often told that their children are just “bathing”—and warehoused in mass orphanages indefinitely while their parents are left unaware of their whereabouts. While there areRead More
New Brief in the Case that Could End Super PACs Posted on June 14, 2018 (June 13, 2018) On Wednesday night, we filed our brief responding to the Federal Election Commission’s motion to dismiss in Lieu v. FEC, the case that could end super PACs. As explained in more detail here, we filed this lawsuit on behalf of a bipartisan coalition of Members of Congress and 2016 congressional candidates. The lawsuit, filed in federal district court inRead More
New FEC Complaint from Free Speech For People Seeks Investigation of Potential Broidy Bombshell Posted on June 13, 2018 (June 26, 2018) Free Speech For People calls on the Federal Election Commission and the US Justice Department to immediately investigate whether a $1.6 million hush money payment violated federal campaign finance law. Today, Free Speech For People announced that it filed a complaint before the Federal Election Commission and a letter with the United States Department of Justice onRead More
Free Speech For People President John Bonifaz joins Rep. Espaillat and Rep. Cohen for #Impeach45 Posted on June 5, 2018 On May 20, 2018, Free Speech For People President, John Bonifaz, joined Representative Adriano Espaillat and Representative Steve Cohen in Washington Heights for a community forum on the grounds for impeachment proceedings against President Trump and how we are fighting back to defend our democracy and uphold the Constitution. Click here to watch the full forum! Read More
Brennan Center: Voucher-Funded Seattle Candidates Relied More on Constituents than on Non-Constituent Donors Posted on June 5, 2018 Free Speech For People is proud to support the efforts in Seattle, WA to uphold the democracy voucher program, a public campaign finance system enacted by voter initiative in 2015. The program serves to promote political equality and democratic self-government, as evidenced in Free Speech For People’s report, The Impact of Seattle’s Democracy Voucher Program onRead More
Join us on June 6 for a hearing on the Equal Rights Amendment Posted on June 4, 2018 (June 4, 2018) Following decades of tireless advocacy and determination, the Equal Rights Amendment, stating that civil rights may not be denied on the basis of one’s sex, is moving forward. On May 30, Illinois became the 37th state to ratify the amendment. Only one additional state is required for ratification to enact the Equal Rights Amendment. However, whenRead More
New amicus brief argues that Seattle’s democracy voucher program promotes political equality and democratic self-government Posted on May 31, 2018 (June 1, 2018) 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 firstRead More
Free Speech For People and Public Citizen Issue Joint Comment to FEC on Internet Political Ads Posted on May 25, 2018 (October 3, 2018) 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 InternetRead More