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On Wednesday, April 30, Democracy 21 President Wertheimer received the Paul H. Douglas Award for Ethics in Government for 2025. Previous recipients of the nonpartisan award include President Barack Obama, Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, Senator John McCain, and Representatives John Lewis and Liz Cheney. The following are excerpts from Fred’s remarks at the […]
On Wednesday, April 30, 2025, Democracy 21 President Wertheimer received the Paul H. Douglas Award for Ethics in Government for 2025. Previous recipients of the nonpartisan award include President Barack Obama, Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, Senator John McCain, and Representatives John Lewis and Liz Cheney. The following are Wertheimer’s remarks at the award […]
President Donald Trump started governing the country by executive order from Day One of his second term. Since January 20, Trump has issued 137 executive orders. This compares with 162 executive orders issued by President Joe Biden over his entire four-year term and the 276 orders issued over eight years by President Barack Obama. In issuing this explosion […]
Democracy 21 joined with Campaign Legal Center and 18 other good government partners to urge U.S. Representatives to approve the board of the Office of Congressional Conduct (OCC) so that the House of Representatives can conduct investigations and review allegations of misconduct. As Roll Call recently pointed out, House leaders have yet to appoint members […]
It took Elon Musk, the world’s richest person, to illustrate to Americans just how dangerous our corrupt campaign finance system can be. This system allowed Musk to contribute more than $250 million to help elect Donald Trump in 2024, making him Trump’s single biggest financial supporter. In turn, President Trump made Musk his governing partner. Following […]
This op-ed is adapted from a piece that first appeared in Courier Newsroom. How The Opinions Of Two Supreme Court Justices Paved the Way for the Musk Era By: Fred Wertheimer, President, Democracy 21, and Don Simon, Counsel, Democracy 21 It took Elon Musk, the world’s richest person, to illustrate to Americans just […]
President Donald Trump signed an executive order on voting last month called Preserving and Protecting the Integrity of American Elections. Based on past performance, however, we can be confident that preserving and protecting integrity was anything but his goal. The Republican-backed SAVE Act, passed in the House on Thursday, falls into the same category. Like Trump’s executive order, it […]
Senator Joseph McCarthy (R-WI) left a shameful and indelible mark on American history with his lies, vitriol, baseless attacks on innocent Americans, and “Red Scare” tactics that cast a dark shadow over the 1950s. But there’s another Senator from that era who deserves to be remembered for her stand against McCarthy: Senator Margaret Chase Smith (R-ME). […]
In a letter to U.S. Representatives, the Declaration for American Democracy (DFAD) — a coalition including Democracy 21 and more than 260 organizations working to strengthen U.S. democracy — strongly opposed the SAVE Act which the House is expected to vote on this week. According to the letter: “Congress has a constitutional responsibility to safeguard […]
The rule of law is foundational to our system of constitutional government. It is not, however, foundational to President Donald Trump, who is attacking the rule of law in the same way that a dictator would. The rule of law is a core principle under which all persons, institutions, and entities are accountable to laws that are: […]
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