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May 8, 2012 4:14 pm | By Paul Gordon
Senators Hear from Americans Concerned about the Courts
After 150 activists from 27 states met with senior Administration officials to discuss how to resolve the unprecedented vacancy crisis in our nation’s courts, they spent the afternoon visiting their senators’ offices on Capitol Hill. Democratic and Republican senators alike…
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May 8, 2012 3:54 pm | By Justin
Political Spending Resolutions Filed at 3 Corporations
Thanks to Citizens United, corporations have been spending unprecedented sums for political purposes. Short of a constitutional amendment to overturn that flawed decision, good government advocates are pressing a variety of strategies to minimize the undue influence corporations currently hold…
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May 8, 2012 2:45 pm | By Miranda Blue
North Carolinians Voting Today on Anti-Gay Constitutional Amendment
North Carolina voters today are casting their ballots on Amendment One, an extreme measure that would write discrimination into the state’s consitution and potentially take away important protections for all unmarried couples, gay and straight. The amendment states that “marriage…
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May 8, 2012 1:54 pm | By Miranda Blue
Holder, Ruemmler Urge Action on Judicial Vacancies
In a summit at the White House yesterday with 150 grassroots and legal leaders from 27 states, Attorney General Eric Holder and White House Counsel Kathy Ruemmler stressed the importance of maintaining fair and effective federal courts, and criticized Senate…
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May 8, 2012 1:54 pm | By Jen Herrick
More good news on the voting rights front, this time in Louisiana
I just shared with you that Connecticut is on the verge of enacting same-day registration, but there’s more good news where that came from – a strong stand taken on behalf of public assistance clients in Ferrand v. Schedler. On…
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May 7, 2012 9:57 pm | By Jen Herrick
Good news for voting rights in Connecticut
The Right to Vote under Attack: The Campaign to Keep Millions of Americans from the Ballot Box, a Right Wing Watch: In Focus report by PFAW Foundation, details the worst of the worst of the Right’s fight to suppress the…
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May 7, 2012 6:15 pm | By Miranda Blue
Judicial Obstruction By the Numbers
Today, a few representatives from People For the American Way joined 150 Americans from 27 states at a White House summit to discuss the state of vacancies in the federal courts. We’ll write more about the summit in later posts,…
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May 7, 2012 5:12 pm | By Jen Herrick
Push for voter ID marches on in Missouri
At the end of March, Cole County Circuit Court Judge Pat Joyce struck down Missouri’s proposed voter ID constitutional amendment (SJR 2) on the grounds that the ballot summary is “insufficient and unfair.” The St. Louis Post-Dispatch editorialized, “In a…
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May 4, 2012 9:30 pm | By Ben Betz
Walker’s Millions and the Right’s “Special Interests” Lie
On Wednesday, PFAW president Michael Keegan sent the following message to PFAW members: Scott Walker is truly the worst governor money can buy. In 2010, in the wake of the Supreme Court’s Citizens United v. FEC decision, Walker shattered state…
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May 4, 2012 8:11 pm | By Matt
New Lawsuit Challenges Voter ID in Pennsylvania
This week, voting rights supporters in Pennsylvania filed suit against HB 934, the state’s voter ID law whose original sponsor, Daryl Metcalfe, is an ALEC member. They claim that it deprives citizens of their basic and fundamental right to vote.…
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May 4, 2012 6:46 pm | By Justin
An ALEC Bill’s Journey
Bloomberg Businessweek put together a handy infographic charting the path of one particular piece of ALEC model legislation, the Private Attorney Retention Sunshine Act, on its journey from approval as a model through introduction in 12 states across the country,…
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May 4, 2012 6:11 pm | By Jen Herrick
EEOC takes step forward in fight to end transgender employment discrimination
In October and December of 2010, the Department of Education took a stand for LGBT youth by issuing guidance to address bullying in schools, especially as it relates to federal education anti-discrimination laws. One of those laws, Title IX of…
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May 4, 2012 4:00 am | By Scott
PFAW Wisconsin Recall Round-Up – May 4, 2012
The national media is focusing its gaze once again on Wisconsin, and this week it was all about the money. Monday, April 30th, was the filing deadline for pre-primary election fundraising totals. Wisconsin’s embattled Republican Governor Scott Walker turned in…
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May 3, 2012 6:14 pm | By Jen Herrick
UPDATE: DOJ takes step forward with latest hate crime indictment
UPDATE: Also last month, the Harlan County case brought the first convictions under the sexual orientation provision of the federal hate crime law. Mable Ashley Jenkins, 19, and Alexis LeeAnn Jenkins, 19, plead guilty to aiding and abetting both kidnapping…
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May 3, 2012 4:30 pm | By Justin
Call for ALEC Tax Investigation Spreads to the States
Fresh off of filing a major complaint with the IRS alleging that the American Legislative Exchange Council abused their tax-exempt status by acting primarily as a lobbying organization, the good-government group Common Cause is now pressing for state-level investigations. Yesterday,…
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May 3, 2012 2:56 pm | By Jen Herrick
Boehner favors politics in pursuing yet another DOMA challenge
Back in February, Attorney General Eric Holder announced that the Department of Justice would not act in McLaughlin v. Panetta to defend, in the military context, the federal-recognition component of the Defense of Marriage Act. The plaintiffs, each legally married,…
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May 2, 2012 10:07 pm | By Justin
Educators Ditch ALEC’s Corporate-Schools Agenda
Who has ditched ALEC so far? The rolling tally: 14 Corporations, 33 State Representatives. A major component of the American Legislative Exchange Council’s agenda to transfer the public’s resources to a few private hands revolves around privatizing our public school…
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May 2, 2012 8:50 pm | By Justin
Introducing the 2012-2013 YP4 Fellows
After weeks of reviewing applications and conducting interviews, we’re pleased to announce People For the American Way Foundation’s 2012-2013 Young People For (YP4) Fellowship class! From a large and diverse pool of over 450 applications, 150 dynamic progressive leaders were…
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May 2, 2012 7:32 pm | By Justin
The Partisan Advantages of Citizens United
Just how much has Citizens United altered the electoral landscape? While the overall amount of outside money in politics has risen dramatically with each passing election cycle, the Citizens United decision eliminated restrictions on corporate and special-interest spending to…
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May 2, 2012 6:59 pm | By Jen Herrick
Governor McDonnell set to make decision on voter ID in Virginia
Last month, instead of signing the voter ID bill, Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell sent it back to the legislature for several amendments, with mixed results: McDonnell amended the bills to add any college identification, including two-year schools. The House and…