Trump’s New York trial and the federal government’s failure to enforce campaign finance law Posted on April 1, 2024 Challenging Corruption On April 15, 2024, disgraced ex-president Donald Trump will face trial in a New York state courtroom for falsifying business records related to hush-money payments he made to buy the silence of a former mistress during the 2016 election campaign. It’s worth retracing how we got here: specifically, how both the Federal Election Commission andRead More
Open Letter Urges Swift and Fair Trial In Trump’s Election Interference Case In Manhattan Posted on March 29, 2024 Challenging Corruption Free Speech For People joined more than a dozen pro-democracy advocates and watchdog organizations in an open letter highlighting former President Trump’s 34 felony counts in People of the State of New York v. Donald Trump and his criminal attempts at concealing secret payments and election interference. The letter is signed by Accountable.US, Clean ElectionsRead More
New Op-ed in Forbes Highlights Threats Posed by Foreign Investors to Undermine US Elections and The Need for Critical Reforms to Preserve Democracy Posted on March 28, 2024 Challenging Foreign Influence In a new article published in Forbes, Ian Simmons provides a detailed account of how foreign investors undermine the US economy and US elections. In a survey of just six states released earlier this year, nonpartisan watchdog OpenSecrets uncovered that at least $163 million of foreign-influenced cash flooded those states’ races between 2018-2022. OpenSecrets showedRead More
New Federal Lawsuit Challenges Use of Artificial Intelligence in U.S. Elections to Undermine Voting Rights Posted on March 14, 2024 Election Protection Following robocalls featuring deepfaked President Biden’s voice urging people not to vote in the New Hampshire Primary, the League of Women Voters has filed a federal lawsuit to block the use of AI technology to intimidate, threaten, coerce, or deceive voters. MANCHESTER, NH – (March 14, 2024) The League of Women Voters of the UnitedRead More
Hawaii State Senate Passes Bill Barring Multinational Corporations from Spending Money to Influence Local and State Elections Posted on March 5, 2024 Challenging Foreign Influence If passed in the House and signed into law, Hawaii would be the second state following Minnesota to ban multinational corporate money in elections. Honolulu, Hawaii (March 5, 2024) – The Hawaii State Senate today passed unanimously and with bipartisan support SB3243, a bill prohibiting foreign-influenced corporations from spending money to influence local and stateRead More
Federal Judge Strikes Down Some Anti-Voter Arizona Policies, Leaves Others in Place Posted on March 5, 2024 (March 5, 2024) Election Protection On February 29, 2024, a federal judge struck down discriminatory, anti-voter provisions of two Arizona laws, H.B. 2492 and H.B. 2243, passed in 2022 that undermined Arizonans’ freedom to vote and violated federal law. The judge’s order also leaves a few anti-voter provisions intact. At issue in the case were discriminatory provisions of the two anti-voter laws,Read More
Free Speech For People Statement on Trump v. Anderson Decision Posted on March 4, 2024 Challenging Corruption The U.S. Supreme Court today has made a mockery of Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The Supreme Court has ruled that–despite inciting and facilitating a violent insurrection that defeated federal law enforcement, conquered the seat of our national government, nearly assassinated the vice president and key congressional leaders, and blockedRead More
Free Speech For People’s Statement on Preliminary Injunction Ruling in Case Re Maine’s Ban on Foreign Government Corporate Spending in Elections Posted on March 1, 2024 (March 1, 2024) Challenging Foreign Influence On Thursday, the federal district court in Maine granted a group of corporate plaintiffs’ motions to temporarily block a historic ballot measure prohibiting foreign government-influenced corporations from unlimited spending in Maine state and local elections. Thursday’s ruling, which is only temporary, will stop this important protection from going into effect while a full legal challengeRead More
Free Speech For People’s Statement on Preliminary Injunction Ruling in Case Re Maine’s Ban on Foreign Government Corporate Spending in Elections Posted on March 1, 2024 Challenging Foreign Influence On Thursday, the federal district court in Maine granted a group of corporate plaintiffs’ motions to temporarily block a historic ballot measure prohibiting foreign government-influenced corporations from unlimited spending in Maine state and local elections. Thursday’s ruling, which is only temporary, will stop this important protection from going into effect while a full legal challengeRead More
Illinois Court Rules Trump Disqualified for Engaging in Insurrection, Cannot Appear on Illinois Ballots Posted on February 28, 2024 (February 28, 2024) Challenging Corruption CHICAGO–In a historic ruling, Judge Tracie Porter of the Cook County Circuit Court in Illinois ruled today that Donald Trump engaged in insurrection and is disqualified from the presidency under Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment (the Insurrectionist Disqualification Clause). This makes Illinois the third state (after Colorado and Maine) to rule that Trump isRead More