Congress Considers Post-Citizens United Reforms
The Brennan Center, in a series of testimonies, urged House Committees to enact a range of campaign finance reforms, including public financing of elections, voter registration modernization, corporate accountability, and take a voter-centric view of the First Amendment.
2/3/10 House Committee on the Judiciary
>Monica Youn’s testimony
2/3/10 Committee on House Administration
>Archived webcast (opens video)
>Ciara Torres-Spelliscy’s testimony
2/2/10 Senate Rules Committee on “Corporate America vs. The Voter”
>Archived webcast
>Brennan Center written testimony by Michael Waldman and Susan Liss
>Professor Heather Gerken’s testimony, which cites The Brennan Center's work.
A Campaign Finance Plan to Turbocharge the Small-Donor Revolution
Citizens United opened the door to corporate and union money in elections. What to do? The Brennan Center strongly urges public financing for elections. NYC’s campaign finance law provides a model. In the Big Apple, city funds match all local small political contributions of up to $175 -- on a 6-to-1 basis. This boosts competitiveness and political participation. Frederick A.O. Schwarz Jr. administered NYC's system for five years; he offers a first-hand view of a public financing system to remedy damage done by the Supreme Court's recent, radical, decision.
Morgenthau Leads 62 Former Prosecutors in Call for Better Legal Defense of the Poor
Feb. 5 - Today, 62 former prosecutors -- including former Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau and former U.S. Attorney Zachary Carter -- joined an amicus brief in support of a suit before the New York Court of Appeals that claims that five New York counties provide constitutionally-inadequate indigent defense. "We need strong advocates on both sides in order for our criminal justice system to operate fairly," Morgenthau said.
Read the Brennan Center's brief.
Obama to Congress: Lift Legal Services Restrictions
Feb. 1 - In the FY2011 budget released today, President Obama urged Congress to repeal two onerous restrictions on federally-funded civil legal services providers. This would remove federal controls from a grantee’s non-LSC funds, and allow LSC-funded organizations to participate in class-action lawsuits.
Last year, Congress repealed the restriction prohibiting LSC-funded legal aid lawyers from seeking attorneys' fees from those who have violated the law. This levels the playing field for low-income litigants and provides added funds for Legal Aid organizations to serve more clients in need.
Read about the restrictions and the Brennan Center’s campaign to fix them.
- Notable Petitions: Voting Rights Act; extraordinary rendition
(SCOTUSblog, by Erin Miller, 02/09/10) - Supreme Court ruling fuels voter ire
(Politico, by Jeanne Cummings, 02/09/10) - Campaign case may have set course for court
(USA Today, by Joan Biskupic, 02/08/10) - Ethics Override Dies In Senate, 35-26
(NY Daily News, by Elizabeth Benjamin, 02/08/10) - NJ voting machines: Verify our votes and stop delaying paper backup
(Newark Star-Ledger, Editorial, 02/08/10) - Voting Rights of the Once-Incarcerated
(American Prospect, by Nancy Scola, 02/08/10) - ACLU Fighting Voting Rights Violations… Should Felons Vote?
(Madville Times [SD], by Coral Heidelberger, 02/08/10) - Poll: Two-Thirds Of Americans Unhappy About Citizens United Ruling
(TPM, by Evan McMorris-Santoro, 02/08/10) - Strong Campaign Finance Reform: Good Policy, Good Politics
(GQRR study, 02/08/10) - Democrats Divide on Voice of Possible Top-Court Pick
(Wall Street Journal, by Jess Bravin, 02/08/10)
Citizens United discussion at Bill Moyers Journal
Campaign Finance Reform expert and Brennan Center staff Monica Youn was joined by Professor Zephyr Teachout from Fordham Law to discuss the Citizens United Supreme Court decision and what it means going forward. Watch now.
Vanishing Recusal Prospects in Wisconsin
“I’m just dumbfounded,” stammered Justice Ann Walsh Bradley of the Supreme Court of Wisconsin. This was Thursday, January 21, the same day the U.S. Supreme Court issued its long-anticipated ruling in Citizens United, which easily eclipsed the unfolding drama in Wisconsin. Justice Bradley’s words were in response to the state court’s anguished position on the recusal of high court judges, a position that’s brought only disappointment since October 2009.
No Time To Wait for the Effects of Citizens United
As Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens predicted in his eloquent dissent on the Citizens United case, “[w]hen citizens turn on their televisions and radios before an election and hear only corporate electioneering, they may lose faith in their capacity, as citizens, to influence public policy.” With the 2010 election season looming, we must act quickly to restore public faith in our democratic process.
Illustrations by Risko
Electoral Reform Report
The latest Carnegie Review report (pdf) charts more than a decade of nationwide voting reform efforts. “Based on the research and advocacy done in the past several years, there is now a chance to solve some of the major problems in the long run by enacting legislation that will modernize the way voter registration is done,” Brennan Center Executive Director Michael Waldman says in the report. The Carnegie Review highlights Brennan Center lawsuits and comprehensive studies which helped increase access to the vote. Learn more about our current work to modernize voter registration.
Two New Ethics Proposals for New York
Following on last week’s veto of the legislature’s ethics bill, legislative leaders are meeting today behind closed doors to determine whether they have the votes necessary for an override. The good news is that the bill’s sponsor, Senator Schneiderman, seems to recognize that the legislature’s work isn’t done…Read more.