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July 30, 2012 9:43 pm | By Calvin Sloan
Senate Hearing Examines Need For Constitutional Remedies to Overturn Citizens United
Last week, the Constitution Subcommittee of the Judiciary Committee of the U.S. Senate held hearings entitled, “Taking Back Our Democracy: Responding to Citizens United and the Rise of Super PACs,” which examined the devastating Citizens United decision, and the need…
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July 30, 2012 8:49 pm | By Paul Gordon
On Obstructing Judges, Senate Republicans Get Even Worse
[Updated] Monday evening, Senate Republicans beat back an effort to end their filibuster of Robert Bacharach to the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals. 60 votes were needed to end the filibuster, but the vote was 56-34, with Republicans almost uniformly…
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July 27, 2012 6:55 pm | By Peter Montgomery
Freedom for ‘Phobes
It has been known for years that Chick-fil-A supports right-wing groups. The company has given out gift cards at the Family Research Council’s Values Voter Summit. At a recent Religious Right gathering, a speaker talked about how wonderful it was to live…
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July 27, 2012 6:46 pm | By Paul Gordon
Filibuster of 10th Circuit Nominee Would Be Unprecedented
On Monday, the Senate will hold a cloture vote to end the filibuster of Robert Bacharach to the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals. This filibuster is just the latest example of the destructive obstruction of judicial nominees that Republicans have…
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July 26, 2012 10:29 pm | By Paul Gordon
Scalia’s Misdirection on Citizens United
The Blog of LegalTimes is reporting on an interview Justice Scalia gave to C-SPAN, scheduled for broadcast this Sunday. In it, the arch-conservative Justice throws out a statistic seemingly designed to mislead Americans: Asked if there is too much money…
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July 26, 2012 9:15 pm | By Sam
New Young Elected Progressives Endorsees
Today we are unveiling three more new endorsees of People For the American Way’s Young Elected Progressives program: Sean Garballey (MA), Carl Sciortino (MA), and Luz Robles (UT). These three, young individuals, under the age of 35, have been great…
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July 26, 2012 9:07 pm | By Dylan
Voter ID trial begins in Pennsylvania
All eyes are on Pennsylvania now that a lawsuit challenging HB 934, the state’s ALEC-tied voter ID law, has gone to trial. Like other unnecessary voter ID laws, this one is expected to disenfranchise thousands if allowed to go into…
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July 26, 2012 8:56 pm | By Peter Montgomery
Right-Wing McCarthyism: Bachmann Wallows in a Deep Pool
USA Today editorialized this week against the rank McCarthyism of Rep. Michele Bachmann and several of her colleagues. PFAW’s Right Wing Watch has covered the representatives’ letter, which cited professional Islamophobe Frank Gaffney as it sounded the alarm about Muslim…
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July 26, 2012 4:25 pm | By Omar
“End a” Discriminatory Workplace with ENDA
As a freshman in high school I approached my principal to request a space to perform one of the five mandatory Muslim prayers that happened to start and end during school hours. I had been praying for years in school…
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July 26, 2012 3:51 pm | By Amelia
UPDATE: Fight over voter ID heating up in Minnesota
UPDATE: The Elections Committee of the Minneapolis City Council has released a report on the ballot measure. While it does not take a position for or against, it does highlight a lack of clarity and the substantial costs and administrative…
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July 25, 2012 9:39 pm | By Sam
Newest Young Elected Progressive Candidates
We are continuing to roll out our new Young Elected Progressives candidates this week with three more candidates under the age of 35. Today we are introducing you to Bret Binder (PA), Will Sylianteng (PA), and Sarah Gillooly (MO). Bret…
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July 25, 2012 7:56 pm | By Miranda Blue
Mitt Romney and America’s “Anglo-Saxon Heritage”
Mitt Romney traveled to Europe last night, and flew right into a political mess. Romney’s campaign is running away fast from a comment made by one of the candidate’s foreign policy advisers to Britain’s The Telegraph: One of his advisers…
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July 25, 2012 5:02 pm | By Amelia
DOJ again rejects South Carolina voter ID
On June 29, the Department of Justice for the second time declined to approve South Carolina’s voter ID law, HB 3003, originally sponsored by ALEC member Alan Clemmons. State Attorney General Alan Wilson sued the federal government after DOJ first…
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July 25, 2012 3:19 pm | By Amelia
UPDATE: Veto pen put to paper in Michigan
UPDATE: Despite hopeful signs from Governor Rick Snyder’s office, the fight against voter suppression is far from over in Michigan. Senators Darwin Booher and David Robertson have introduced SB 1219, identical to the vetoed SB 803. The ballot coaching provision…
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July 24, 2012 9:57 pm | By Paul Gordon
Who Would Be on the Romney Court?
The ABA Journal has an article on how the Supreme Court will essentially be on the ballot in the upcoming presidential election and mentioning some of those thought most likely to be nominated to the nation’s highest court by a…
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July 24, 2012 8:28 pm | By Dylan
Push for citizenship data goes viral
After granting Florida access to its Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) database, the Department of Homeland Security has begun discussions with a growing number of states who’ve requested the same. State election chiefs, including Texas Secretary of State Esperanza…
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July 23, 2012 8:43 pm | By Josh Glasstetter
POLITICO: Supreme Court a Critical 2012 Issue
A POLITICO article out today reaffirms that the 2012 election is of “Supreme importance” to the future of the nation’s highest court. The piece takes note of the critical role the court will play in the upcoming elections and reminds…
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July 20, 2012 9:27 pm | By Sam
Young Elected Progressives Program Candidates
As we continue to reveal the 2012 endorsed candidates of PFAW’s Young Elected Progressives program, here are three more great individuals, 35 or younger, running for office: Andrew Gounardes (NY), Micah Z. Kellner (NY) and Tim Keller (NM). Andrew Gounardes…
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July 20, 2012 9:06 pm | By Amelia
Termination of evening and weekend voting sparks outrage in Ohio
Voting rights advocates in Ohio are outraged as Secretary of State John Husted has decided to end the evening and weekend voting in Cuyahoga County that have benefitted voters there in four of the past five years. He broke a tie vote…
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July 20, 2012 3:31 pm | By Amelia
UPDATE: Good news for voting rights in Connecticut
UPDATE: Governor Dannel Malloy of Connecticut signed HB 5024 on May 31. Governor Neil Abercrombie of Hawaii signed HB 1755 on July 5. The Right to Vote under Attack: The Campaign to Keep Millions of Americans from the Ballot Box,…