Press Releases Archive

How The Opinions Of Two Supreme Court Justices Paved The Way For The Musk Era

  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 […]

D21 Joins In Urging U.S. House To Oppose The SAVE Act

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 […]

D21 On Confirmation Of Kash Patel As FBI Director

Statement of Democracy 21 President Fred Wertheimer Kash Patel’s 51-49 confirmation today as FBI Director – nominated by President Trump and confirmed by all but two of the Republican Senators – is a dangerous threat to the nation and a disaster for the FBI. Patel is an outspoken enemy of the FBI he now leads, […]

50+ Civil & Human Rights Organizations, Including D21, Urge Senators To Oppose Kash Patel’s Nomination To Lead FBI

Ahead of Friday’s Senate confirmation hearing on Kash Patel, Trump’s nominee for FBI director, 58 civil and human rights organizations, including Democracy 21, have urged the Senate to oppose Patel’s confirmation. Given the FBI’s vast authority, “the bureau’s leadership must be entrusted to someone who will uphold the U.S. Constitution, respect the rule of law, […]

D21 President Fred Wertheimer To Receive The Prestigious Paul H. Douglas Award For Ethics In Government

Democracy 21 President Fred Wertheimer has been awarded the 2025 Paul H. Douglas Award for Ethics in Government. The prestigious award is given annually by the University of Illinois System’s Institute of Government and Public Affairs. The award honors “government and private citizens who significantly contribute to the practice and understanding of ethical behavior and […]

Trump’s Jan. 6 Pardons & Commutations Are A National Disgrace

Statement of Democracy 21 President Fred Wertheimer President Donald Trump’s pardons and commuting of sentences today of convicted criminals who carried out the January 6 mob attack on the U.S. Capitol in 2021 are a national disgrace. The pardons and commutations are part of Trump’s continuing effort to rewrite history. Trump will fail. Historians write […]

Kash Patel: In His Own Words

In a Truth Social post on November 30, President-elect Donald Trump announced that he would nominate Kash Patel to be the director of the FBI. Last week, current FBI Director Christopher Wray, appointed by Trump in 2017 to a 10-year term, announced he would step down before Trump is sworn into office. Historian and journalist Garrett Graff […]

Trump’s Call To Jail House Jan. 6 Committee Members Is “Dangerous And Outrageous.”

Statement of Democracy 21 President Fred Wertheimer This past weekend, President-elect Donald Trump said in an NBC “Meet the Press” interview that “everybody” on the House January 6 Committee “should go to jail.” This is an example of Trump’s presidential revenge and retribution tour. It is the same kind of approach used by dictators like […]

70 Civil Rights and Pro-Democracy Groups – Including D21 – Join In Opposition To Preemptive Recess Appointments

Seventy national civil rights and pro-democracy organizations, including Democracy 21, sent a joint letter to Senators on December 4, urging them to uphold the Senate’s critical constitutional responsibility to advise and consent on presidential nominations to the executive and judicial branches. The letter comes as President-elect Donald Trump is urging incoming Republican Senate leadership to […]

New On Just Security: Refuting the Latest Baseless Attacks Against Special Counsel Jack Smith

“Another major factual revelation by Special Counsel Jack Smith, another attempt to discredit him without ever addressing the new facts,” Andrew Weissmann and Ryan Goodman write in an analysis published today on Just Security regarding the 2020 election interference/Jan. 6 case brought by Smith against former President Donald Trump. “But this time,” Weissmann and Goodman […]