VIDEO: Free Speech For People And Our Fight To End Foreign-Influenced Corporate Spending in Our Elections Posted on March 31, 2021 (April 2, 2021) Challenging Foreign Influence Free Speech For People has been at the forefront in the fight to end foreign-influenced corporate campaign spending, researching, drafting, and advocating for legislation on all levels of government. We helped to successfully pass laws in St. Petersburg, Florida in 2017, and in Seattle, Washington in 2020. Seven states (Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, NewRead More
Buckley v. Valeo, 43 Years Later Posted on November 13, 2018 (November 13, 2018) This past weekend marked the 43rd anniversary of the oral arguments in Buckley v. Valeo, the 1976 Supreme Court case that set the foundation for four decades of problematic and often unworkable jurisprudence impeding society’s ability to put limits on the influence of big money in elections. But on November 10, 1975, when the lawyersRead More
Harper v. Virginia and the Wealth Primary as a New Poll Tax Posted on March 24, 2018 (September 18, 2018) Democracy Amendments Today is the anniversary of the Supreme Court’s decision in Harper v. Virginia State Board of Elections, which struck down poll taxes in state elections as violating the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Virginia’s poll taxes, enacted in 1902, had preserved Virginia’s place as an elite white man’s commonwealth. But to this day,Read 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
Slate: This Lawsuit in Alaska Could Upend the Campaign Finance Landscape Posted on August 14, 2017 (August 14, 2017) A little-known court case in Alaska could be the next big money-in-politics controversy, says Slate. Read More
New friend-of-the-court brief argues for self-government Posted on July 26, 2017 (July 26, 2017) Today, Free Speech For People filed a friend-of-the-court brief (along with Prof. David Fontana of George Washington University Law School) arguing that an Alaska campaign finance law should be upheld because it serves a compelling government interest in democratic self-governmentRead More
Moving to the next phase of the lawsuit to end super PACs Posted on June 7, 2017 We’re ready to move to the next stage of litigation in our challenge to SpeechNow.org v. FEC, because the FEC has now issued the administrative decision that gives us the vehicle for a court challenge.Read More
FSFP files FEC Complaint Against Citgo and Trump’s Inaugural Committee Posted on April 26, 2017 (October 3, 2018) We filed an FEC complaint that alleges “foreign nationals” from Citgo, may have violated federal law by donating to President Trump’s inaugural committee. Read More
Event Resources: “Queer+Trans Concerns Around Democracy, Money & Politics” Posted on April 23, 2017 (May 2, 2017) This event is part of Free Speech For People’s efforts to broaden and diversify the movement to overturn Citizens United, and to reach new audiences who have historically not been included in these discussions. Click to learn more.Read More
Op-Ed: Texas Should Help Overturn Citizens United Posted on April 13, 2017 (April 13, 2017) Free Speech For People staff member and Austin resident, Aspen Webster authored an op-ed published today in the Austin-American Statesman on why “Texas Should Help Overturn Citizens United.”Read More