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June 30, 2014 6:39 pm | By Paul GordonDid Hobby Lobby Majority Undercut Its Own Argument?
The five-justice majority in Hobby Lobby finds that closely held family companies like Hobby Lobby and Conestoga Wood have religious liberty rights. There is nothing in their reasoning that would limit this startling conclusion to closely held corporations. In fact,…
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June 30, 2014 6:14 pm | By Peter MontgomeryHobby Lobby: ‘Closely Held’ Does Not Mean ‘Mom and Pop’
In the Supreme Court’s decision in Hobby Lobby, the Court held for the first time ever that a for-profit corporation counts as a “person” under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act and that a “closely held” corporation basically shares the religious…
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June 30, 2014 4:13 pm | By Paul GordonHobby Lobby Opens Up a Minefield
With a far-right Supreme Court majority ruling in Hobby Lobby 5-4 that for-profit closely-held corporations have religious rights under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), Justice Ginsburg is rightly warning that the Court has "ventured into a minefield." Although the…
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June 30, 2014 3:20 pm | By AlexPFAW Mobilizes Latino Voters to Save the Senate, Has First Spanish Language Ad in North Carolina Race
The National Journal just cited our work in an article about how control of the Senate could hinge on Latino voters. The story focused on the North Carolina race and noted that PFAW was the first group out with a…
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June 27, 2014 6:36 pm | By Jen HerrickFailing to Defend the Right to Vote Is Simply Not an Option
Earlier this week, on the first anniversary of the Supreme Court's decision in Shelby County v. Holder, the Senate Judiciary Committee took up the important work of restoring the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (VRA). People For the American Way…
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June 26, 2014 10:08 pm | By Alex H.Are the Koch Brothers in Your Neighborhood?
The Koch brothers are coming to a neighborhood near you. That’s the message from a new Public Citizen report, “Outside Spenders, Local Elections.” The report details how the Koch brothers’ Americans for Prosperity (AFP) is dumping money into local government…
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June 26, 2014 9:55 pm | By Paul GordonRoberts Court Strikes Down Clinic Buffer Zone Law
The Supreme Court gave abortion protesters a win this morning in McCullen v. Coakley, but it was not the knockout blow against all clinic buffer zones that they had hoped for. While the Justices all agreed on the result, they…
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June 26, 2014 6:05 pm | By Paul GordonGOP Obstruction Leads to Supreme Court Ruling on Recess Appointments
Share this article: Ruling in the Noel Canning case this morning, the Supreme Court unanimously struck down President Obama's recess appointments to the National Labor Relations Board as unconstitutional but the justices were sharply divided 5-4 in how they reached…
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June 25, 2014 8:10 pm | By
Tuesday’s Primaries Reflect a Hard Right Turn for the GOP
A Republican incumbent held on against his upstart Tea Party challenger in Mississippi, but let’s be clear: Radical right-wing candidates secured their place on the ballot in races for federal, state and local office yesterday. People PFAW’s Right Wing Watch…
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June 25, 2014 7:26 pm | By Paul GordonTenth Circuit Protects Right to Marry
Since last year's Windsor decision striking down DOMA, one federal district court after another has struck down bans against marriage equality. Many of those rulings are being appealed. Today, for the first time, a federal appeals court has entered the…
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June 25, 2014 5:35 pm | By Layne AmerikanerIndiana’s Marriage Ban Struck Down
In another win for equality, today U.S. District Judge Richard Young struck down Indiana’s ban on marriage for same-sex couples. Because the judge did not stay the ruling, the Indianapolis Star reports that couples can begin getting married right away.…
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June 25, 2014 4:00 pm | By IanNew Report Reflects Persistence of Voting Rights Violations
While the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (VRA) took a giant leap toward reducing voting discrimination, a wealth of evidence today shows that discrimination at the polls persists. A new report by the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights…
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June 25, 2014 3:14 pm | ByCleaning Up the Supreme Court’s Democracy Mess
This post was originally published at the Huffington Post. One year ago this week, the Supreme Court's conservative majority struck down a key provision of the Voting Rights Act and took yet another step toward undermining our democracy. Since then,…
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June 23, 2014 9:15 pm | By Bernardita“Citizen Koch” Premieres Nationwide (And We Highly Recommend It!)
All around the country, the important film "Citizen Koch" is premiering in cities large and small. Find a screening near you! The movie tracks the effects of the Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling that lifted a century-long ban on corporate…
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June 23, 2014 8:24 pm | By BernarditaPFAW Files Amicus Brief Supporting Fair Trials for Undocumented Immigrants
Last Thursday, People For the American Way, joined by the UC Hastings Appellate Project (HAP) and the ACLU of Southern California, submitted an amicus brief to the California Court of Appeal in Velasquez v. Centrome, Inc. dba Advanced Biotech, a…
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June 23, 2014 7:22 pm | By Paul GordonRoberts Court Upholds but Limits EPA’s Authority to Regulate Greenhouse Gases
The conservative wing of the Roberts Court today ruled that the EPA cannot regulate greenhouse gases in certain contexts — but acknowledged that the agency can continue to do so in others. Despite the negative part of the ruling, the…
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June 19, 2014 7:26 pm | By Scott
People For the American Way Action Fund Endorses Young Progressive Candidates in Michigan
People For the American Way Action Fund today announced its endorsements of a slate of young progressive candidates running for the Michigan State Legislature. The endorsees include a diverse mix of 35-and-younger candidates running for the Michigan state House of…
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June 19, 2014 7:25 pm | By Paul GordonGreat Progress in Judicial Nominations
During the past several months, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy have clearly made judicial nominations a priority. Taking advantage of last year's rules change and standing up against GOP filibusters of every judicial nominee…
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June 19, 2014 1:48 pm | By Layne Amerikaner“I’m Afraid to Do What I Think Is Right”: Report Highlights Real-World Impact of Outside Political Spending
While we may be accustomed to seeing charts and tables about the impact of big money in politics, it’s far less common to hear about the real-world stories of its influence. Yesterday researchers from Ohio State University released a new…
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June 18, 2014 10:17 pm | By Layne AmerikanerTed Cruz and the Myth of the Censored Grandma
In today’s Senate subcommittee markup on a proposed constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United and get big money out of politics, Sen. Ted Cruz was ready with a long line of scary predictions as to what the proposed amendment would…