U.S. Supreme Court
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Feb28
Clips round up for 2/28/2013
Justice Scalia was really being Justice Scalia yesterday at oral arguments for the challenge to Section 5: he called it "perpetuation of a racial entitlement" that Congress would never overturn because the name of the bill sounded nice. Sotomayor fired back to the lawyer: "Do you think the right to vote is a racial entitlement in Section 5?"
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Feb26
FIGHT FOR VOTING RIGHTS: Rally at Supreme Court tomorrow
Tomorrow the U.S. Supreme Court will hear Shelby County v. Holder, a challenge to Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, which requires all or parts of 16 “covered” states with long histories and contemporary records of voting discrimination to seek approval from the federal government for voting changes. The court is questioning whether Section 5 remains a necessary remedy for ongoing discrimination.
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Jun26
Demos VP & Public Campaign Board Member Heather McGhee Discusses Montana Case on MSNBC
Demos' Vice President of Policy & Outreach Heather McGhee, who serves on the Public Campaign Board of Directors, appeared on MSNBC's "Now With Alex Witt" and discussed yesterday's Supreme Court ruling in American Tradition Partnership v. Bullock, which sought to maintain Montana's 100 year old ban on corporate campaign giving.
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Jun25
ROUND UP UPDATED: What People Are Saying After Court's Latest Big Money Ruling
Earlier this year, the Montana Supreme Court upheld the state’s century-old Corrupt Practices Act that banned direct expenditures in elections for state offices. In the Court’s 2010 Citizens United decision, justices argued that because outside expenditures were independent, they could not be corrupting. Montana’s Attorney General, and the Montana Supreme Court, disagreed citing the state’s own history of corruption. Today, in the American Tradition Partnership, Inc. v. Bullock ruling, the Court overturned state's Supreme Court ruling.
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May29
Supreme Court Set to Consider Montana Campaign Finance Case
Scotusblog reports that the U.S. Supreme Court will take up the American Tradition Partnership, et al., v. Bullock case on June 14th.
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Jan10
Clips Round-up for 1/10/12
Campaign Finance/Fair Elections
High court backs foreign contribution ban
Hey, the U.S. Supreme Court got something right! They affirmed a lower court ruling keeping the ban on foreign nationals from donating money to candidates in place.
- Read Rick Hasen's take: http://electionlawblog.org/?p=27557 -
Oct05
Clips Round-up for 10/5/11
Yesterday, we launched http://www.occupydemocracy.org/. In our statement in support of the Occupy Wall Street protests, we wrote: "In addition to occupying Wall Street, we need to occupy democracy. In a democracy occupied by everyday people, big donors and corporate special interests wouldn’t drown out the voices of the rest of us." Follow us (and join in!) on Twitter today with the hashtag #occupydemocracy.
Campaign Finance/Fair Elections -
Sep15
Clips Round-up for 9/15/11
Campaign Finance/Fair Elections
Fix our campaigns to fix our economy -
Aug10
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Jul11
Clips Round-up for 7/11/11
Campaign Finance/Fair Elections
Clean Elections take a hit, by Renee Loth
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2011/07/09/clean_elections_take_a_hit/
A good, though somewhat pessimistic, piece in the Globe by Renee on the McComish decision. "The story of unchecked corporate power is everywhere. Somebody needs to write a new ending."