Very good op-ed on reforming U.S. democracy

https://thehill.com/opinion/campaign/4432286-democracys-enemies-have-spoken-what-about-its-defenders/

The author is Exec. Dir. of a climate policy think tank. He says that Pres. Biden and the Democrats have not made enough progress on reforming democracy. He argues for:

• Using Article III to remove campaign finance from the jurisdiction of SCOTUS.
• Passing voting rights reforms [similar to Freedom to Vote Act and John R. Lewis Act].
• Reforming the SCOTUS with more justices, term limits, and the SCERT bill.
• Adopting the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact.
  

Charlie Cooper

Get Money Out - Maryland

H: 410-578-8291

M: 410-624-6095

Republican hearing officer in Illinois recommends removing Trump from ballot

https://apnews.com/article/trump-election-illinois-insurrection-e6c8bf05a1bb99eea7afe6531383b43e 

The hearing officer appointed by the Illinois State board of elections, a former Republican judge, recommended that the preponderance of the evidence proves that Donald Trump engaged in insurrection and should not appear on the Illinois ballot. He said that the decision would be better made by a court then by the board of elections itself. Board of elections is holding a hearing on the matter on January 30th at 9:30 p.m. Central Time.

Charlie Cooper

Prof. Lessig says that Hawley's challenge to SuperPACs may soon be tested

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2023/11/democracy-josh-hawley-supreme-court-unfortunate.html

Charlie Cooper

Constitutional Law Scholar Rich Hasen calls for a voting rights amendment

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/16/opinion/voting-rights-constitution-28th-amendment.html

"... in Bush v. Gore, to give a relatively recent example, the Supreme Court reiterated that the Constitution does not guarantee citizens the right to vote for president and confirmed that states may take back the power to appoint presidential electors directly in future elections."

The Warren court of the [ERA] was the only Supreme Court in history that was favorable to broadening voting rights.

The lack of an affirmative right leads to attempts at voter suppression. In the current era, Republicans are trying to shape the electorate to dampen turnout. Also, "[a]n affirmative right to vote in the Constitution could de-escalate the voting wars and decrease the amount of election litigation by simultaneously protecting voter access and ensuring election integrity."

An amendment should "guarantee not only the right to vote but also the right to have that vote fairly and accurately counted."

Charlie Cooper

Study finds profiteers fabricating stats for Trump's election fraud claims

https://thefulcrum.us/big-picture/Threats-to-democracy/trump-election-lies

Charlie Cooper

Tennesseeans seeking to have their voting rights restored must first have gun rights restored

https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/2024/01/23/tennessee-voting-rights-officials-consider-linking-gun-voting-rights/72313073007/?utm_source=Democracy+Docket+Newsletters&utm_campaign=1932207d4d-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2023_07_18_06_01_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-9336cb8284-%5BLIST_EMAIL_ID%5D&mc_cid=1932207d4d&mc_eid=3ad478424e 

Restoration advocates accused the state board of elections of moving the goal posts.

Charlie Cooper

Democratic-leaning group sue No Labels for campaign finance violations

https://apnews.com/article/no-labels-campaign-finance-complaint-biden-trump-05062262e04b4bb346ab06eaea99630b

No Labels is registered as a 501(c)(3) non-profit, but it is making progress in gaining ballot access in all 50 states for a possible presidential campaign. End Citizens United is a Democratic-leaning PAC that is suing No Labels arguing that they must file campaign finance reports and give up their (c)(3) status, which confers tax breaks and donor anonymity. The article states that Democratic-learning groups fear that a No Labels candidacy will hand the presidency to Donald Trump.

Charlie Cooper

National groups endorse Alsobrooks

https://www.marylandmatters.org/2024/01/24/national-political-reform-group-backing-alsobrooks-in-senate-primary/?emci=6dac5d21-64ba-ee11-bea1-002248223848&emdi=d4dd3479-b8ba-ee11-b660-002248223197&ceid=260506 

Charlie Cooper

Congress can help protect election workers

https://thehill.com/opinion/campaign/4418670-2024-promises-to-be-contentious-congress-must-support-election-workers-now/

This article summarizes the depth of the threat and what Congress can do to help states protect election workers.

Charlie Cooper

What members who recently left the General Assembly did with their campaign funds

https://www.marylandmatters.org/2024/01/22/new-hospital-association-chief-showers-ex-colleagues-with-donations-from-campaign-fund/?emci=259afb08-27b9-ee11-bea1-0022482237da&emdi=c95c5580-29b9-ee11-bea1-0022482237da&ceid=260506 

Members left the general Assembly for positions in the Moore administration or in the private sector. Melanie Griffith, now leading the Maryland Hospital's Association, gave large contributions to many former colleagues and still has a healthy campaign chest, even though she's not running for an office.

Charlie Cooper

Alaska's New election system offers counter to hyperpartisanship

https://thefulcrum.us/Elections/Voting/alaska-voting-system 

Alaska now has non-partisan primaries and ranked choice run off voting for the four highest vote getters in those primaries. Nevada is in the process of possibly adopting a similar system.

Charlie Cooper

Reaffirming our broad agenda on the 14th anniversary of Citizens United v FEC

https://www.movetoamend.org/ending_citizens_united_doesn_t_end_money_as_speech_and_corporate_personhood?utm_campaign=citizens_united_14th_anniversa&utm_medium=email&utm_source=movetoamend

Our ally Move to Amend reviews why "overeturning Citizens United" is not a sufficient solution to the nations' affliction of big money in politics.

Charlie Cooper

Watch "Rep. Raskin: To know the law is to understand Trump is disqualified from office" on YouTube

https://youtu.be/0kEynIBIPYs?si=_7zWLjkWK1mMqvTq 

Rep. Jamie Raskin's explanation of why Trump is disqualified from being President under section 3 of the 14th Amendment.

Charlie Cooper 

Respected Constitutional scholar argues for affirmative right to vote

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/16/opinion/voting-rights-constitution-28th-amendment.html?campaign_id=39&emc=edit_ty_20240120&instance_id=113009&nl=opinion-today&regi_id=33603389&segment_id=155858&te=1&user_id=a2639148267bad823b53e9ae1e246e50 

Rick Hasen reviews the disappointing History of the Supreme Court when it comes to protecting voting rights. He argues that a carefully written constitutional amendment guaranteeing the affirmative right to vote to all US citizens over a certain age could eliminate a lot of the voter suppression and election litigation we have been experiencing recently..

Charlie Cooper

8th Circuit bars voter lawsuits

https://www.democracydocket.com/opinion/sounding-the-alarm-the-8th-circuits-discordant-note-on-voting-rights/?utm_source=Democracy+Docket+Newsletters&utm_campaign=329bbc727c-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2023_07_13_07_28_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-bcf9199d2b-%5BLIST_EMAIL_ID%5D&mc_cid=329bbc727c&mc_eid=3ad478424e 

Sinema trails potential general election opponents

https://themessenger.com/politics/new-arizona-poll-finds-sinema-trails-gallego-lake-in-three-way-matchup-exclusive

Independent Senator Kyrsten Sinema trails badly against her chief Republican and Democratic opponents in a new poll. She has not announced whether she will try to retain her Senate seat. Republican Kari Lake trails Democrat Ruben Gallego 36% - 35% while Synema garnered 17% of those polled.

Sue Fothergill

Federal court rules that right-wing voter challenges in Georgia are not illegal

https://fairfight.com/statement-on-ff-v-ttv-ruling/

A federal judge vigorously criticized the tactics of True The Vote, a right-wing organization that has challenged the registration of 364,000 Georgia voters. He stated:

"TTV's approach to list maintenance 'utterly lacked reliability' and 'verges on recklessness.'"

However, he did not find that the challenges constituted illegal voter intimidation under the federal Voting Rights Act. Fair Fight, the voting rights organization founded by Stacey Abrams, vows to continue to challenge TTV's voter suppression tactics by other means.

Charlie Cooper

Trump issues dog-whistle call for violence on disqualification

https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4392902-trump-warns-big-trouble-as-scotus-agrees-hear-colorado-case/

Donald Trump predicted "big trouble" if the Supreme Court does not rule in his favor in his appeal of the 14.3 disqualification case in Colorado.

"'I just hope we get fair treatment,' Trump said at an Iowa rally Friday. 'Because if we don't, our country's in big, big trouble. Does everybody understand what I'm saying?'"

Charlie Cooper

Biden schedules campaign speech on democracy

https://apnews.com/article/biden-trump-2024-democracy-threat-national-traumas-66167f70a167592c23067180fbe55910

Pres. Biden will deliver a campaign speech near Valley Forge, Pennsylvania on January 5, 2024. He seeks to invoke the memory of the Revolutionary War to illustrate that a Trump presidency would constitute a grave threat to democracy. GMOM and many other groups, however, will be looking for concrete action. Biden could require firms with large federal contracts to disclose all election spending, and he could crack down on foreign money that is influencing elections. A purely rhetorical discussion of democracy will be disappointing.

Charlie Cooper

Letter to Pres. Biden urges executive action on democracy initiatives

https://us.transparency.org/resource/cso-letter-to-president-biden-calling-for-continued-pro-democracy-legislation/

GMOM is a signatory to this letter to Pres. Biden urging him to take concrete action to protect democracy. The groups urge Biden: 

"... to direct the U.S. Department of Justice and other relevant agencies to determine the frequency and amount of foreign money that is directly or indirectly spent in connection with U.S. elections, to call on the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to begin a rulemaking process requiring public corporations to disclose the full extent of their lobbying activities and expenditures, and to maximize the use of the U.S. Department of the Treasury's forthcoming beneficial ownership database to investigate cases of corruption and foreign money laundering...."

Charlie Cooper

Federal judge denies Fair Fight a victory in voter intimidation case

https://www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/federal-judge-rules-right-wing-groups-mass-voter-challenges-did-not-intimidate-georgia-voters/

A right-wing group called True the Vote set up and funded an operation that challenged the voter registration of 364,000 people in Georgia, targeting mostly people of color. A federal judge ruled that the operation did not violate the voter intimidation clause of the Voting Rights Act. The judge criticized that substance of the voter challenge methodology as cruel and unfair but said these were matters that should be corrected by the Georgia legislature -- which is gerrymandered to be in the control of Republicans who will not act to correct these injustices.

Charlie Cooper

Trump on the ballot? It's a matter of law.

https://www.baltimoresun.com/2024/01/01/trump-ballot-speculation/

This is my letter to the editor criticizing political speculation and calling for the U.S. Supreme Court to issue a speedy ruling as to whether Trump is disqualified to serve as President under 14.3

Charlie Cooper

8th Circuit Court of Appeals seeks to weaken Voting Rights Act

https://www.courthousenews.com/eighth-circuit-ruling-limits-enforcement-of-voting-rights-act/

The Arkansas NAACP and other citizen groups filed suit to say that reapportionment of the Arkansas legislature violated the Voting Rights Act bar on racial gerrymanders. But in early December of 2023, a panel of the the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis agreed with a lower Court judge who ruled that the Voting Rights Act permits only the U.S. Attorney General to file suit -- not private citizens. If upheld, this ruling will overturn almost 60 years of practice and a prior U.S. Supreme Court decision.

Charlie Cooper