Senate Judiciary subpoenas and GOP delaying tactics

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uArOi5OAnDY

At 36:00 in this video, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, a key member of the Senate Judiciary Committee explains that the motion to subpoena billionaire Harlan Crow and right-wing kingpin Leonard Leo regarding gifts to Justice Clarence Thomas (among others), have been delayed because Republican senators have introduced 90 amendments. Whitehouse expects the roadblocks to be overcome and for the subpoenas to be issued.

Charlie Cooper

Move to Amend hits Josh Hawley bill

https://www.movetoamend.org/hawley_masks_corporaterule?utm_campaign=josh_hawleys_bill&utm_medium=email&utm_source=movetoamend 

Move to Amend argues that only a constitutional amendment overturning Citizens United and banning the concept of corporate constitutional rights can restore balance to our politics and government. 

 

Hawleys bill, which only bans certain kinds of political spending by for profit corporations, they argue, will not do the trick.

Charlie Cooper.

Senate Judiciary Committee will subpoena Harlan Crow and Leonard Leo

https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/press/releases/durbin-announces-judiciary-committee-will-no-longer-vote-to-authorize-subpoena-for-robin-arkley-following-cooperation-in-supreme-court-ethics-investigation

The Senate Judiciary Committee will issue subpoenas to principal figures in the Supreme Court ethics scandal.

Charlie Cooper

Public Citizen praises Meta and Microsoft on deep fakes

https://www.citizen.org/news/meta-microsoft-back-disclosure-for-election-deepfakes/

Public Citizen thinks that Meta and Microsoft are sincerely supporting effective regulation of deep fakes, which are a potential serious threat to our elections and to the entire concept of democratic control of government.

Charlie Cooper

Overview of threats to 2024 Presidential election

https://www.marylandmatters.org/2023/11/07/one-year-out-how-a-free-and-fair-2024-presidential-election-could-be-under-threat/

Congress fixed a major problem with the Electoral Count Reform Act, but the desire of Trump partisans to win an election by any means and their belief in conspiracy theories mean that a host of threats at every stage of the process looms. Also, four key states have made it more difficult to vote by mail.

Charlie Cooper

Audit of Maryland State Board of Elections

https://www.marylandmatters.org/2023/11/03/audit-raises-concerns-about-efforts-to-purge-the-dead-from-voter-rolls/

Out of more than 4 million registered voters, State auditors claimed to have found 2,400 dead people. SBE staff disputes the number and says it is just under 1,000. The audit found 134 people who voted more than once in the 2020 election out of 1,371 who tried to vote more than once. (The election occurred during the pandemic.) None of these findings suggest that the outcome of an election could have been changed by fraudulent voting.

Charlie Cooper

McConnell warns GOP senators not to back Hawley bill to limit outside money from corporations

https://www.cnn.com/2023/10/31/politics/mitch-mcconnell-josh-hawley-citizens-united/index.html

McConnell bragged about how much outside money he had been able to funnel to colleagues. In an interview, Hawley defended his bill and said that corporate influence should be limited in elections.

"I think that's wrong," Hawley told CNN. "I think it's wrong as an original matter. I think it's warping our politics, and I see no reason for conservatives to defend it. It's wrong as a matter of the original meaning of the Constitution. It is bad for our elections. It's bad for our voters. And I just think on principle, we ought to be concerned."

Charlie Cooper