Challenging Corruption Overview

Foreign interference in our elections

In December 2016, we (along with the Campaign for Accountability) filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission against the Russian government and the Trump campaign. The complaint alleges that the Russian government had violated the Federal Election Campaign Act by spending money to influence the 2016 presidential election, and further provided evidence indicating the need to investigate whether the Trump campaign had coordinated with the Russian government. Some of the questions at issue in our complaint were addressed by the Mueller report, but many others are still unanswered. In December 2021, five years after the 2016 complaint, the Federal Election Commission had not responded. In response, Free Speech For People and Campaign for Accountability  filed a federal lawsuit seeking declaratory and injunctive relief.

VIEW CASE DETAILS

dissolve the trump organization

We are calling on the New York Attorney General to investigate whether to begin proceedings to revoke the corporate charter of the Trump Organization in New York State, due to its collusion with the former President Trump to violate the Domestic and Foreign Emoluments Clauses of the U.S. Constitution while in office, and its history of alleged illegal, fraudulent, and abusive conduct. We the people have the power to hold The Trump Organization, Inc. accountable for its obligations under New York state law.

LEARN MORE

On January 6, 2021, former President Donald Trump incited hundreds of violent insurrectionists to storm the Capitol in an effort to overturn the results of the 2020 election, and other elected officials aided or gave comfort to the insurrectionists. As a result, five people died and more than 140 officers were injured in a seditious attack that shook our democracy to its core. Now, Trump is preparing to run for president again in 2024, holding rallies throughout the country to activate his base.

However, Trump’s incitement of the January 6th insurrection makes him ineligible for any future run for office.

Enacted in the wake of the Civil War, Section 3 of the 14th Amendment disqualifies from public office any individual who has taken an oath to uphold the U.S. Constitution and then engages in insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or gives aid or comfort to those who have. By inciting a violent attack on Congress in an effort to prevent the certification of his own electoral defeat, Donald Trump engaged in insurrection and violated his oath of office.

Free Speech For People and Mi Familia Vota Education Fund are partnering to urge Secretaries of State and chief election officials across the country to follow the mandate of Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment and bar insurrectionists from any future ballot. To learn more, visit: www.TrumpIsDisqualified.org.

LEARN MORE

Victory: Closing the New York State Double Jeopardy Loophole

The New York Assembly voted to pass a double jeopardy bill challenging the abuse of the presidential pardon power. The New York Senate previously passed the bill. The bill was signed into law by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo on October 16, 2019. We worked closely with the New York Attorney General’s Office to help achieve this victory. Prior to the passage of the bill, New York State law allowed for certain defendants pardoned by the president for their federal crimes to escape prosecution for their state crimes. The bill has now closed this loophole by providing a narrowly-targeted exception to ensure that state prosecutors could bring cases against certain defendants pardoned by the president for self-dealing purposes.

Read More

VICTORY: Divest Trump Soho Campaign

In July 2017, Free Speech For People launched a campaign calling on the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) and the New York State Comptroller to divest public pension funds from the Trump SoHo Hotel in New York City, as the investment was funneling millions in retiree funds to the Trump Organization in violation of the Domestic Emoluments Clause of the Constitution. After months of pressure, the private equity fund that owns Trump SoHo announced it will buy out the Trump Organization’s contract to market and manage the troubled luxury condo/hotel, breaking a chain of illegal payments from state and local pension funds to the President and securing a victory for the people in the fight against the corruption of our democracy.

Read More

Pursuing FEC Investigations of Campaign Finance Violations

Free Speech For People filed an administrative complaint with the Federal Election Commission concerning a $150,000 “hush money” payment made in 2016 on behalf of Trump to cover up an alleged affair with Karen McDougal, as a potential violation of federal campaign finance law. The investigation is necessary because, even after federal prosecutors have investigated some of the parties involved, critical questions remain unsettled—including the exact nature of President Trump’s role. Although a court rebuffed an effort to compel the FEC to act, the case remains live on the FEC’s administrative docket.

READ MORE

Challenging the unconstitutional pardon of sheriff arpaio

Free Speech For People was part of a coalition of organizations asking the courts to reject the presidential pardon of former Maricopa County, Arizona sheriff Joseph Arpaio as unconstitutional and invalid on the ground that it violates the constitutional guarantee of due process of law. Meanwhile, Arpaio is seeking to have his conviction vacated entirely. The Department of Justice has refused to defend the government against Arpaio’s appeal, so at our request, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit appointed a special prosecutor to represent the interests of the United States. Ultimately, the panel affirmed the district court without addressing our arguments challenging the validity of the pardon itself.

View Case Details

Abuse of the Pardon Power

Free Speech For People filed an urgent motion before the federal district court in U.S. v. Stone on behalf of constitutional law Professors Jed Shugerman and Ethan Leib seeking permission to submit an amicus brief arguing that the court should not automatically accept the executive grant of clemency but rather should consider whether it may be unconstitutional.

READ MORE

The 14Point3 Campaign

On January 6, 2021, former President Donald Trump incited hundreds of violent insurrectionists to storm the Capitol in an effort to overturn the results of the 2020 election, and other elected officials aided or gave comfort to the insurrectionists. As a result, five people died and more than 140 officers were injured in a seditious attack that shook our democracy to its core. Now, Trump is running for president again in 2024.

However, Trump’s incitement of the January 6th insurrection makes him ineligible for any future run for office.

Enacted in the wake of the Civil War, Section 3 of the 14th Amendment disqualifies from public office any individual who has taken an oath to uphold the U.S. Constitution and then engages in insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or gives aid or comfort to those who have. By inciting a violent attack on Congress in an effort to prevent the certification of his own electoral defeat, Donald Trump engaged in insurrection and violated his oath of office.

Free Speech For People and Mi Familia Vota Education Fund partnered to urge Secretaries of State and chief election officials across the country to follow the mandate of Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment and bar insurrectionists from any future ballot.

With its ruling in Trump v. Anderson on March 4, 2024, the Supreme Court failed to uphold Section 3 of the 14th Amendment.  The Supreme Court did not deny that Trump engaged in insurrection. Instead, the Court ruled that states’ power to appoint presidential electors–which the Court has previously described as “far-reaching” and “plenary”–does not allow them to apply this critical provision of the Constitution to presidential candidates. As of today, states can exclude a presidential candidate from the ballot because he did not submit the proper paperwork with the proper number of verified signatures, but not because he fomented a bloody insurrection against the U.S. Constitution. Read our oped in Jurist on how the Supreme Court’s ruling was “an error of historic proportions and a sham.”

LEARN MORE