News
On Friday September 19th, Democracy 21 and Public Citizen joined with the Campaign Legal Center in filing an amici brief in Independence Institute v. Federal Election Commission (FEC), urging the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to dismiss a challenge to the federal “electioneering communications” disclosure provisions upheld by the Supreme Court as recently […]
In 1974, Congress enacted limits on contributions to candidates to prevent corruption. Today, these contribution limits are in danger of being wiped out by individual-candidate Super PACs. The Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision in 2010 unleashed the world of Super PACs into our elections. Along with them, came individual-candidate Super PACs. Super PACs raise unlimited contributions from […]
Democracy 21 joined the Campaign Legal Center in filing an amici brief in New York Republican State Committee v. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) urging the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to deny a preliminary injunction and dismiss the latest challenge to pay-to-play laws. The state Republican parties of New York and Tennessee are challenging an SEC […]
According to Democracy 21 President Fred Wertheimer: In his opinion in McCutcheon v Federal Election Commission, Chief Justice Roberts said that scenarios, such as the large scale joint fundraising committees described in briefs submitted to defend the federal aggregate contribution limits, were “divorced from reality.” The Center for Public Integrity article below provides a new […]
In a letter sent to the IRS, Democracy 21 and the Campaign Legal Center summarized comments they had submitted regarding the ongoing IRS rulemaking proceeding to consider new regulations to govern eligibility for section 501 (c)(4) tax status. The letter stated: On May 7, 2014, the American Bar Association Section on Taxation submitted comments to […]
According to Democracy 21 President Fred Wertheimer: As the enclosed POLITICO article makes clear, it is Chief Justice Roberts who is “divorced from reality,” not those of us who submitted briefs in the McCutcheon case to explain that donors would be giving huge contributions if the limits on the total contributions by an individual to […]
The Empowering Citizens Act (H.R. 270) introduced last year by Representatives David Price and Chris Van Hollen is the most comprehensive campaign finance reform legislation pending in Congress. The bill would end individual candidate Super PACs, repair the presidential public financing system, create a public financing system for congressional races and strengthen the rules prohibiting […]
In a statement issued today, reform groups urged Senators to support the Lobbying and Campaign Finance Reform Act of 2014, legislation introduced today by Senator Michael Bennet (D-CO) that would limit the ability of lobbyists to use bundled contributions to obtain undue influence with members of Congress. The organizations include the Campaign Legal Center, Citizens […]
Our organizations strongly support the DISCLOSE Act of 2014 introduced today by Senator Whitehouse (D-RI) with 49 cosponsors. Our organizations include Americans for Campaign Reform, the Brennan Center for Justice, the Campaign Legal Center, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, Common Cause, Democracy 21, Demos, the League of Women Voters, People For the American […]
Statement by Democracy 21 President Fred Wertheimer The RNC filed a lawsuit today in Federal District Court in Washington, D.C. challenging for the third time the ban on national parties raising and spending unlimited contributions, or soft money. They have lost this same argument twice before in the Supreme Court. The RNC lost this argument […]
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