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END SUPER PACS
Group Picks Alaska to Challenge Unlimited Campaign Donations
Associated Pres – Feb. 7, 2018, at 3:43 p.m A national group is focusing on Alaska in a bid to get the U.S. Supreme Court to revisit a 2010 decision that upended how campaigns are run in this country. Read more →
Now we are moving against Super PACs
The Equal Citizens Blog, February 7, 2018 Last fall, we launched a campaign to fund a lawsuit to challenge winner-take-all in the Electoral College. Thousands stepped up, and we beat our goal by a mile. I am extremely excited to report that within the next 10 days, our case(s) will be filed. We are about to shake things up in a big way — and you made it happen. Read more →
COMMENTARY
Democracy Is Not a Spectator Sport:What We Learned From a Voting Experiment with Bassnectar
Equal Citizens Blog, September 12, 2018
When most older people hear electronic dance music (EDM), they think of reckless young people wasting their lives away on mindless indulgence, and to be honest, we were somewhat skeptical when Bassnectar invited us to run an election reform education program at his Labor Day weekend concerts, Bass Center XI, in Hampton, Virginia.
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Lawrence Lessig analyzes how corrupt institutions erode the common good
KALW, September 12, 2018
On this edition of Your Call, we’ll talk with law professor Lawrence Lessig, who has spent much of his career trying to fix our broken political system. His new book, America, Compromised, is based on a series of lectures he has given about how US institutions no longer serve the purposes for which they were designed. They now serve the wealthy and corporations, which work to help the rich get richer.
Why Democracy Reform? Our Summer Interns Explain.
Equal Citizens Blog, August 30, 2018
For those fighting to fix our broken democracy, there is often a tendency to drown in the specifics or technicalities. The reasons we strive for better representation in our government get subsumed by arcane language about public financing of elections and gerrymandering. And even more critically, the democracy reform community becomes insular, talking only to ourselves, preaching to the choir.
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Stop The Madness: It’s Time to Pass Automatic Voter Registration
Equal Citizens Blog, August 28, 2018
The 2018 midterm elections are less than three months away and grassroots organizations are now laser-focused on registering voters. An effort backed by Our Lives, Our Vote — an organization formed in response to the Parkland shooting — for example, has spent $1.75 million on voter registration alone. There are good reasons for such a focus.
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The State of The Democracy Movement: June and July Edition
Equal Citizens Blog, August 16, 2018
The state of our democracy is constantly in flux. Even for those who spend their time in democracy’s trenches, it’s very hard to keep track of everything that happens across all 50 states, and while many attacks on democracy make the headlines, some pass under the radar, obscured from public view. At the same time, some hard-won victories push us closer to one-person, one-vote, but never enter the spotlight.
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Russian indictments show that the US needs federal oversight of election security
TechCrunch, July 18, 2018
President Trump’s Helsinki summit with Vladimir Putin, on the heels of 12 Russian intelligence officials indicted for hacking the 2016 election, made it clear that this administration has zero commitment to protect our elections from future Russian attacks. These events should remind us of an alarming fact we can no longer afford to ignore: our elections are not secure.
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A lawsuit in Alaska can begin the end of SuperPACs
The Hill, July 13, 2018
The summer sun is high in the sky, and we all know what that means — high temperatures, long nights and the beginning of a deluge of campaign spending for the state and federal elections this fall. And those people spending the big money on political ads aren’t just doing favors for their friends, of course: regardless of whether they are giving money to Democrats or Republicans, the spenders have things they want done when legislators get to work in 2019, like tax breaks, oil permits, pension protections, and much more.
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Justice Kavanaugh can help fix gerrymandering
The Hill, July 13 2018
The Supreme Court has for decades avoided definitively resolving the question of how much political gerrymandering is too much for the Constitution to tolerate. And so, when many legal commentators read the Court’s recent opinion in Gill v. Whitford—the latest gerrymandering case in which the Court failed to decide the issue—they let out a collective “here we go again.”
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Justice Brett Kavanaugh, liberal hero? OK, probably not — except maybe on campaign finance reform
Salon, July 13, 2018
Judge Brett Kavanaugh, President Trump’s nominee to replace retiring swing justice Anthony Kennedy on the Supreme Court, is a conservative jurist who will interpret the United States Constitution consistent with the original understanding of various provisions when they were adopted. Many on both sides of the aisle are now bracing for the major changes that may come with the replacement of a flexible swing justice with a solid originalist.
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This is how to ultimately defeat the NRA
NBC Think, May 28, 2018
Cynics are correct to doubt, despite the epidemic of school shootings around the country, that meaningful gun control policy will be forthcoming, even though over two-thirds of Americans want stricter gun laws. And everyone knows that there are two groups to blame: The NRA, and the politicians caught in its thrall.
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Congress’ Latest Move to Extend Copyright Protection Is Misguided
Wired, May 18, 2018
Almost exactly 20 years ago, Congress passed the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act, which extended the term of existing copyrights by 20 years. The Act was the 11th extension in the prior 40 years, timed perfectly to assure that certain famous works, including Mickey Mouse, would not pass into the public domain.
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Mick Mulvaney shows why we need to radically change our elections
Washington Post, April 29, 2018
Mick Mulvaney, the White House budget director and acting head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, told lobbyists last week what they already knew: Legislators are dependent upon their funders, and their funders are not the people.
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‘This puts a target on his back’: Ethics experts say the FBI should investigate Trump’s budget director for pay for play
Business Insider, April 25, 2018 “Mulvaney admitted Tuesday that, as a congressman, he only gave meetings to lobbyists who donated to his campaign.” Equal Citizens founder Lawrence Lessig and Equal Citizens Foundation board member Richard Painter are quoted in the article. Read more →
Mick Mulvaney Warns Bankers: I Only Spoke to Lobbyists Who Paid Me
Newseek, April 25, 2018 “Mick Mulvaney, acting head of the consumer finance watchdog, told a room full of bankers that the only lobbyists he met with as a congressman were those who made political donations to his office, and he urged them to continue lobbying lawmakers to weaken the regulator he runs.” Equal Citizens founder Lawrence Lessig is quoted in the article. Read more →
Electors Case Update: Round 1 Goes To The State. But The Fight Goes On.
Equal Citizens Blog, December 11, 2017 Last Friday at the state courthouse in Olympia, Washington, Equal Citizens founder Lawrence Lessig argued our case that presidential electors in Washington could not be fined for failing to vote for Hillary Clinton, the candidate that got the most votes in the state. Read more →
The 2018 candidates who repair the common ground of our democracy
The Hill, November 30, 2017 American politics is strikingly bi-polar. We are firmly divided. We are firmly united. Yet the dynamic of the divided part makes the union part almost irrelevant. Read more →
An important case about the role of presidential electors heads to court in Washington
Equal Citizens Blog, December 6, 2017 At Equal Citizens, we’re trying to reform the Electoral College. One critical way to improve it is to force states to stop throwing away meaningful votes… Read more →
District Court: Colorado presidential electors bound by state law to echo popular vote
Jurist, April 11, 2018 A judge for the US District Court for the District of Colorado [official website] on Wednesday ruled [order PDF] that Colorado may bind its presidential electors to cast their votes for the winner of the state’s popular vote. Read more →
Federal judge dismisses lawsuit against Secretary of State Wayne Williams
KOAA Pueblo/Colorado Springs, April 10, 2018 A federal court judge dismissed a lawsuit filed against Secretary of State Wayne Williams by three Democratic electors who said their constitutional rights were violated when they were required to vote for the 2016 presidential candidate they had pledged to support. Read more →
A federal judge dismissed the ‘Hamilton Elector’ lawsuit in Colorado. But that’s what they wanted.
The Colorado Independent, April 10, 2018 A federal judge in Colorado on Tuesday dismissed a case its plaintiffs hope will eventually bring more clarity to how members of the Electoral College should vote in presidential elections. Read more →
Colorado Electoral College reps told to follow popular vote
Associated Press, April 10, 2018 Colorado electors in the Electoral College must cast ballots for the winner of the state’s popular vote, a federal judge ruled Tuesday in a case filed by three dissident electors who sought to vote for someone other than Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election. Read more →
Judge Rules Members of Electoral College Must Follow Popular Vote
The Washington Free Beacon, April 10, 2018 A federal judge dismissed a case in which three members of the Electoral College from 2016 challenged a Colorado law requiring them to cast their vote for president to represent the state’s popular vote winner. Read more →
Third Colorado presidential elector joins lawsuit against Colorado Secretary of State Wayne Williams
Denver Post by Jesse Paul, April 10, 2018 at 1:32 pm A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit from three Democratic presidential electors against Colorado Secretary of State Wayne Williams alleging that Williams violated their constitutional rights during the highly contentious 2016 Electoral College vote… Read more →
‘Faithless’ electors $1,000 fines upheld
The Spokesman-Review, December 13, 2017 The U.S. Constitution doesn’t let three Washington members of the Electoral College off the hook for fines received for not casting votes for Hillary Clinton as they pledged, a Thurston County judge has ruled. Read more →
Rogue electors are undeterred by their latest legal setback
HeraldNet, December 25, 2017 A year after they broke ranks with their party by not supporting Hillary Clinton for president, three Democratic electors continue fighting to prove they had every right to do what they did. Read more →
Fine Upheld for ‘Faithless Elector’
Columbia Basin Herlad, December 13, 2017 Three so-called “faithless electors,” one of whom is a Warden native, had their $1,000 fines upheld by a judge on Friday after they previously decided not to vote for the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee during last year’s Electoral College. Read more →
Colorado secretary of state and ‘Hamilton Electors’ reach deal to expedite case
Channel 7 – Denver (ABC), October 25, 2017 A group of self-professed “Hamilton Electors” has reached a deal with Colorado’s secretary of state to drop him from the lawsuit and to only pursue $1 each in damages in the ongoing litigation. Read more →
Colorado Sec. of State makes a deal with electoral college members suing him: ‘We just want an answer to the constitutional question’
The Colorado Independent, October 25, 2017 Both sides hope the U.S. Supreme Court takes their case before the 2020 presidential election. Read more →
Prosecuting Or Removing ‘Faithless’ Presidential Electors Is Unconstitutional
The Daily Caller, October 18, 2017 A 2016 Colorado Democratic presidential elector who pledged to vote for Hillary Clinton is suing because the state removed him from his position after he voted for Ohio Gov. John Kasich instead. He joins two other electors with somewhat similar claims. Read more →
Electoral College members file voter ‘intimidation’ lawsuit against Colorado’s secretary of state
The Colorado Springs Independent – October 4, 2017 Last November, from his downtown Colorado Springs home, local math educator Bob Nemanich, one of the 538 members of the Electoral College, helped launch a movement to try to change the way the United States chooses its president. Read more →
Electoral College members file voter ‘intimidation’ lawsuit against Colorado’s secretary of state
The Colorado Independent – October 3, 2017 Colorado’s GOP Secretary of State Wayne Williams and attorneys for three members of the 2016 Electoral College class who are suing him for voter intimidation are involved in a game of Let’s Make a Deal. They aren’t talking about settling. Read more →
Third Colorado presidential elector joins lawsuit against Colorado Secretary of State Wayne Williams
Denver Post by Jesse Paul, September 21, 2017 at 10:29 am Micheal Baca has become the third Colorado presidential elector to join a federal lawsuit against Secretary of State Wayne Williams alleging Williams violated their constitutional rights by making threats and removing Baca as an elector ahead of the high-drama 2016 Electoral College vote… Read more →
‘Faithless elector’ to Colorado’s secretary of state: Now I’m suing you
The Colorado Independent by Corey Hutchins, September 20, 2017 The Colorado Electoral College member who went rogue by not casting an official ballot for Hillary Clinton in December is suing Secretary of State Wayne Williams claiming Williams violated his constitutional rights by removing and replacing him and not counting his vote… Read more →
Electoral College members file voter ‘intimidation’ lawsuit against Colorado’s secretary of state
The Colorado Independent by Corey Hutchins August 16, 2017 Two members of Colorado’s Electoral College class of 2016 have filed a lawsuit against Secretary of State Wayne Williams saying the Republican intimidated them into casting votes for Hillary Clinton in December. Read more →
Colorado’s “faithless electors” seek damages in new federal lawsuit
Denver Post by Brian Eason, August 15, 2017 at 3:54 pm MST Two Colorado presidential electors have filed a new federal lawsuit against Secretary of State Wayne Williams, saying that threats he made leading up to last year’s dramatic Electoral College vote violated their constitutional rights. The lawsuit was announced Tuesday by Equal Citizens, an advocacy group, on behalf of two Democratic electors… Read more →
ELECTORS TRUST
Lessig: 20 Trump electors could flip
POLITICO By KYLE CHENEY 12/13/2016 07:10 PM EST Lawrence Lessig, a Harvard University constitutional law professor who made a brief run for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination, claimed Tuesday that 20 Republican members of the Electoral College are considering voting against Donald Trump, a figure that would put anti-Trump activists more than halfway toward stalling Trump’s election. Read more →
Lawrence Lessig Offers Free Legal Aid To Anti-Trump Electors
December 10, 2016 8:27 AM ET NPR Heard on Weekend Edition Saturday Harvard law professor Lawrence Lessig will support members of the Electoral College who don’t cast their vote the president-elect. NPR’s Scott Simon asks him why he’s decided to take up this cause. Read more →
Lessig offers free help to electors wanting to vote against Trump: report
The Hill BY JESSIE HELLMANN – 12/05/16 09:40 PM EST Prominent Harvard law professor Lawrence Lessig says he will partner with a California-based law firm to help any members of the Electoral College looking to oppose President-elect Donald Trump, Politico reports. Read more →
Lawyers offer free support to electors who want to oppose Trump
The Week December 6, 2016 Any member of the Electoral College who wants to vote against Donald Trump but would violate state law by doing so has the support of a Harvard University law professor and a California-based law firm. Read more →
The Hamilton plan gains steam: Texas Republican elector goes rogue, saying he won’t vote for Trump
SALON.com TUESDAY, DEC 6, 2016 1:51 PM EDT The so-called Hamilton Electors — a group of electors who are determined to deny Trump the 270 electoral votes he needs to officially become president — now have the support of Harvard law professor Lawrence Lessig, who has created an “Electors Trust” that provides free counsel to electors, according to a report on Tuesday from The Week. Read more →
THIS GROUP OF ROGUE ELECTORS HAVE A PLAN TO STOP TRUMP
Vanity Fair BY TINA NGUYEN DECEMBER 6, 2016 11:29 AM Republican electors may also be wary of coming out against Trump independently, incurring his wrath and that of his supporters. To that end, campaign finance reform advocate Lawrence Lessig recently announced the creation of The Electors Trust, which will provide free legal counsel to electors thinking about defecting—and an anonymous platform where they can discuss strategy. Read more →
Meet the Republican Elector Who Is Refusing to Vote for Trump
Democracy Now! DECEMBER 08, 2016 A Republican member of the Electoral College has come out saying he will not vote for President-elect Donald Trump when the Electoral College convenes December 19. Christopher Suprun, a paramedic from Texas, wrote in an op-ed published in The New York Times on Monday that Trump is “not qualified for the office” of the presidency. Read more →
The Faith of the Faithless Electors
Slate DEC. 8 2016 5:41 PM Lawrence Lessig, a constitutional law professor at Harvard, has teamed up with the California law firm Durie Tangri in an effort called the Electors Trust, which will provide free legal advice to wavering electors. Lessig, like Suprun, has no idea if an Electoral College revolt could actually happen, but thinks that given the danger Trump poses to democratic norms and his decisive popular vote defeat, it’s worth a try.Read more →
Nonprofit Will Provide Legal Advice to “Conscientious Electors”
Nonprofit Quarterly December 7, 2016 Lawrence Lessig, a Harvard law Professor and former candidate for the presidency, has organized an effort called The Electors Trust, which is offering pro-bono legal consultation to any member of the electoral college who wants to vote for a candidate other than the one to whom they are pledged. Read more →
Republican Elector Vows To Vote Against Donald Trump
HuffPost POLITICS 12/05/2016 09:30 pm ET | Updated Dec 19, 2016 To support anti-Trump Electoral College members, Harvard University law professor Lawrence Lessig announced on Monday he will launch “The Electors Trust,” which will provide free counsel to those seeking to oppose Trump in states where doing so may be illegal, Politico reports. Read more →
Elector who promised to vote against Donald Trump receives death and rape threats
Independent.co.uk 12/16/2016 NPR Heard on Weekend Edition Saturday After 17 US intelligence agencies accused Russia of interfering with the presidential election, Electoral College members are rethinking their support of Donald Trump. Some of those electors, along with the lawyers who are defending them, are now receiving a barrage of death and rape threats from Trump supporters. Read more →
Electoral College Dissenters Deluged With Death Threats
Gothamist Dec 15, 2016 The Republican electoral college member who has announced his plan to vote against Donald Trump come Monday is being bombarded with death threats, along with lawyers who have announced plans to defend other dissenting electors, according to activists organizing what they hope will be an electoral college revolt. Read more →
The ‘Real’ Presidential Vote: Electoral College Voting Underway
NBC NEWS DEC 19 2016, 10:57 AM ET This year, members of a group calling itself The Electors Trust, including Harvard law professor Lawrence Lessig, say they’ve been contacted by dozens of electors seeking legal advice. Many are asking, must they vote as their states did? Read more →
Texas GOP elector announces he won’t vote for Trump
December 10, 2016 8:27 AM ET CBS NEWS DEC 6, 2016 Harvard University law professor Lawrence Lessig has announced that he will provide free counsel to electors who want to oppose Mr.Trump, according to Politico. It’s called “The Electors Trust” and it will offer a platform for electors to plan how to stop the president-elect. Read more →
LISTEN: Harvard Law Professor Lawrence Lessig Offers Legal Aid To Electoral College Members
NPR ALL THINGS CONSIDERED December 6, 2016 Harvard University law professor and one-time Democratic presidential candidate Lawrence Lessig is offering free legal guidance to electors through his new project, The Electors Trust, to potential “faithless electors” who are considering voting against their state’s outcome. Lessig discussed the project with WGBH All Things Considered host Barbara Howard. Read more →
Inside The Psychology Of The Rebel Electors Who Seek To Overturn Trump’s Election
Fast Company 12.15.16 Lawrence Lessig, a Harvard constitutional law professor, recently joined forces with Boston lawyer R.J. Lyman to launch an organization called “Electors Trust” to provide legal counsel to Republican electors who are considering voting against Trump. Lyman has identified 17 other voters (besides the Hamilton Electors’) who are considering casting their vote for a different candidate. Read more →
More GOP electors are open to dumping Trump, Electors Trust organizer says
ThinkProgress Dec 14, 2016 NPR Heard on Weekend Edition Saturday Lawrence Lessig — an anti-Trump Harvard University constitutional law professor and co-founder of “Electors Trust,” which provides “free and strictly confidential legal support to any elector who wishes to vote their conscience” — says at least 20, and perhaps as many as 30, Republican electors are considering rejecting Trump. Read more →
How a Group of Lawyers Is Helping “Faithless Electors” Vote Their Conscience (Q&A)
The Hollywood Reporter DECEMBER 14, 2016 Harvard Law professor Lawrence Lessig, who ran for president as a Democrat in this election, California attorney Mark Lemley and Michael Hawley co-founded the organization to provide free and confidential legal help to electors who “wish to vote their conscience.” Read more →
Law School Professor Says 20 Republican Electors May Vote Against Trump
THe Harvard Crimson December 18, 2016 Continuing years of long-shot efforts to reform the American electoral system, Harvard Law School professor Lawrence Lessig said Tuesday that at least 20 Republican members of the Electoral College may not cast their votes for President-elect Donald Trump. Read more →
The Left vs. the Electoral College
Slate – December 9, 2016 Finally, liberals are taking a page from the conservative playbook with these extreme long-shot lawsuits. Read more →
Advocacy groups knock ‘unjust’ copyright-extending CLASSICS Act
TechCrunch, June 4, 2018
Copyright is a mess, but more of a mess in some ways than others, and one of the biggest messes right now is licensing music for digital broadcast. The Music Modernization Act aims to smooth over some of the biggest bumps, but a companion piece has aroused the ire of a collection of internet advocacy groups, which have voiced their concerns via a letter penned by copyright scholar Lawrence Lessig.
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