Nearly 150 Advocacy Groups Call on Majority Leader Schumer to Not Allow the Filibuster to Block the For the People Act. Posted on April 9, 2021 Defending Key Reforms New sign-on letter comes as For the People Act is set to move through the Senate in coming weeks. “We strongly urge you and the Senate Democratic caucus to do the right thing and not allow the filibuster to once again stand in the way of civil rights, voting rights, racial justice, and the strengtheningRead More
Take Action: Ban Surveillance Advertising Posted on March 24, 2021 (April 5, 2021) Defending Key Reforms Most people who use the internet are familiar with personalized advertisements. But the big internet platforms aren’t selling you products. They are selling you and the troves of information they have collected about you to advertisers and others seeking to manipulate what you see on the internet. For companies such as Facebook and Google, thisRead More
New FSFP Oped Published By Moyers On Democracy On The Fight Against Growing Threats To Voting Rights And Passing The For The People Act And The John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. Posted on March 22, 2021 (April 5, 2021) Defending Key Reforms Moyers On Democracy recently published a new oped by FSFP Legal Director Ron Fein, FSFP President John Bonifaz, and FSFP Board Chair and Senior Legal Advisor Ben Clements on the growing threats to voting rights across the country and the urgent need to pass the For the People Act and the John Lewis Voting RightsRead More
FSFP Joins Coalition of Advocacy Groups Urging Democratic Senators To Publicly Commit To Recommending Public Interest Lawyers For Judgeships. Posted on March 17, 2021 (March 19, 2021) Defending Key Reforms On Tuesday, Free Speech For People joined a coalition of advocacy organizations in a letter urging Democratic Senators to publicly commit to recommending public interest lawyers for judicial vacancies. The coalition, led by Demand Justice, references an earlier letter written by White House Counsel Dana Remus to Senators specifying that the Biden administration is “focusedRead More
Take Action: Tell the Senate It’s Time to Eliminate the Filibuster and Pass the For The People Act Now Posted on March 17, 2021 (March 19, 2021) Defending Key Reforms The For the People Act, the most comprehensive democracy reform bill in a generation, was introduced in the Senate today, following its recent passage in the House. But there’s one major hurdle to it becoming law: the filibuster. The filibuster is an archaic rule that doesn’t exist in the Constitution or in state governments andRead More
Following The U.S. House of Representatives Vote To Pass H.R.1 Free Speech For People Urges The U.S. Senate To End The Filibuster and Pass The For The People Act. Posted on March 4, 2021 (March 19, 2021) Defending Key Reforms Last night the U.S House of Representatives voted to pass H.R.1, a once-in-a-generation democracy reform package to clean up our political system, expand and protect voting rights, get big money out of politics, and hold elected officials accountable for corruption. The bill will now proceed to the U.S. Senate for a vote. Sign here toRead More
Juneteenth and democracy Posted on June 19, 2020 (June 19, 2020) Defending Key Reforms For a century and a half, many Black Americans have observed Juneteenth (June 19) as the anniversary of the abolition of slavery in the United States. Today, we all recognize Juneteenth not just as a celebration of the end of slavery, but as a call to action to finally move our country to true racialRead More
Our Testimony in Support of Bill to Help Ensure Safe In-Person Voting During COVID-19 Pandemic Posted on May 15, 2020 (June 17, 2020) Defending Key Reforms Free Speech For People submitted written testimony in support of a new bill in the Massachusetts State House to improve election safety, security and accessibility in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. Representative Tami Gouveia of the 14th Middlesex District introduced the legislation, which Free Speech For People helped develop. The bill, titled “An Act toRead More
Supreme Court declines to hear challenge to Seattle public campaign financing law Posted on March 30, 2020 (May 19, 2020) Defending Key Reforms Today, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear a challenge to Seattle’s innovative public campaign financing program in the case of Elster v. City of Seattle. In 2015, Seattle voters enacted a novel democracy voucher program for public campaign financing. Under the democracy voucher program, eligible Seattle residents receive four $25 vouchers that they can use toRead More
Free Speech For People Statement on Reports That U.S Senators Sold Stock Following Confidential COVID-19 Briefings. Posted on March 20, 2020 (October 8, 2020) Defending Key Reforms The news that at least two U.S. Senators, Richard Burr (R-NC) and Kelly Loeffler (R-GA), sold major holdings of stock, apparently after receiving confidential briefings on the spread and severity of the coronavirus pandemic, but just before public revelations of that information caused the stock market to crash, is a gut punch to Americans whoseRead More