We Made Our Match!

Thanks to supporters like you, Free Speech For People has made our $500,000 matching grant, which means collectively one million dollars has been raised toward building our new Legal Advocacy Program!

This program will lead a parallel movement in the courts to challenge the Citizens United and Buckley v. Valeo rulings and the legal doctrines underlying them. This program is backed by an outstanding Legal Advisory Committee of respected law professors, former judges, and attorneys from across the country.

Our new Legal Director Ron Fein has already begun making waves with the new program. In January, he led the effort to file an amicus brief in the Conestoga Wood Specialties Supreme Court case, arguing that the First Amendment right to the free exercise of religion is for real, live people—not corporations. We also traveled to the Supreme Court to be a live witness at the argument.

And, just last month, our Legal Advocacy Program joined as co-counsel for the Take Back St. Louis initiative, to defend against a corporate-sponsored attack on the citizens’ right to put this ballot initiative to the vote. The ballot measure would end tax breaks in St. Louis for the fossil fuel industry, and fossil fuel companies are claiming that it violates their corporate “equal protection rights.”

In the coming months, we’re planning to keep up the fight in important cases around the country involving money in politics and corporate claims of constitutional rights. We’re also planning to lift up voices of dissent within the judiciary and the legal community as a whole and to serve as a critical legal resource to the growing grassroots movement to reclaim our democracy. And that’s just the beginning.

Now with these additional funds our impact with the program will be significantly increased. Thank you again for all of your support.