Free Speech For People Joins Watchdog Groups’ Letter to House Speaker Ryan About Rep. Nunes Posted on January 29, 2018 Free Speech For People joined Democracy 21 and fourteen other watchdog groups and individuals in a letter to House Speaker Ryan today, challenging the continued involvement of Rep. Devin Nunes in the House’s Russia investigations. The letter called on Speaker Ryan “to act promptly to remove Chairman Nunes from any further participation in any aspect of the RussiaRead More
What the Ninth Circuit’s Prostitution Decision Can Teach Us About Money in Politics Posted on January 29, 2018 (October 3, 2018) Democracy Amendments A federal court of appeals just rejected a case challenging prostitution laws as unconstitutional. A Newsweek piece published this Saturday—as it happens, the anniversary of oral argument in the case that created super PACs—explained how this decision, perhaps unexpectedly, shows what’s wrong with the way the Supreme Court thinks about money in politics. The analysis draws on scholarship byRead More
SpeechNow v. FEC – The Case that Created Super PACs, and Our Challenge Posted on January 27, 2018 (January 24, 2018) January 27 marks the eighth anniversary of oral argument in the case that created super PACs. Contrary to popular belief, super PACs were not created by the Supreme Court in Citizens United, but rather by a subsequent lower court decision called SpeechNow v. FEC, argued on January 27, 2010 (just six days after the Citizens United decision). As weRead More
How Big Donors Drove Tax Reform Posted on January 24, 2018 (January 25, 2018) There was big news this week on the money in politics front. Recent Federal Election Commission filings show that less than two weeks after the House passed the tax bill, Charles and Elizabeth Koch each donated $247,700 to Paul Ryan’s super PAC, Team Ryan. The same day, they lavished another $406,800 on the National Republican Congressional Committee. Major donors MarleneRead More
Celebrating the life of Doris ‘Granny D’ Haddock Posted on January 24, 2018 (November 29, 2018) Today is the birthday of Doris Haddock, otherwise known as Granny D, who, at the age of 89, walked across the country to press for an overhaul of our nation’s campaign finance system. When she set out from California, she did not have any grand plan as to how she would do this. She justRead More
Free Speech For People Seeking Communications Intern Posted on January 23, 2018 (October 3, 2018) Come join the campaign to reclaim democracy for the people. Free Speech For People, a national nonpartisan nonprofit organization, was founded in 2010 after the Supreme Court’s Citizens United v. FEC decision. We’re working to renew our democracy and reclaim our Constitution for We the People, not big money and corporate interests, and to challengeRead More
On the eighth anniversary of Citizens United, here is how you can take action Posted on January 22, 2018 (October 3, 2018) Democracy Amendments Sunday, January 21st, 2018, marked the eighth anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision. This case said that we can no longer bar corporations from spending unlimited sums of money to take over our elections. The ruling was both a dangerous campaign finance decision and an extreme extension of the fabricated doctrine ofRead More
On the anniversary of the Presidential Inauguration, we continue the campaign for an impeachment investigation of President Trump Posted on January 20, 2018 Impeachment On this day last year, Free Speech For People, with RootsAction, launched the campaign, Impeach Donald Trump Now, calling for an impeachment investigation to be launched by Congress into the violations of the Domestic and Foreign Emoluments Clause of the U.S. Constitution by Donald Trump. Since the launch of the campaign, we have expanded theRead More
Williams-Yulee and the Courts, Three Years Later Posted on January 17, 2018 President Trump’s 2017 inauguration isn’t the only event with an anniversary coming on January 20. On January 20, 2015, the Supreme Court heard oral argument in Williams-Yulee v. The Florida Bar, an important case on judicial fundraising and preserving public confidence in the integrity of the judiciary. And unlike Citizens United, which will have itsRead More
MLK Day reminds us that money in politics is a civil rights issue Posted on January 15, 2018 (October 3, 2018) On Martin Luther King Jr. Day we celebrate the legacy of a human being dedicated to racial justice and equal rights for all. Dr. King envisioned a world without racism and bigotry, in which peace and tolerance rule. The current landscape of money in politics in America reminds us that Dr. King’s fight for justiceRead More