Home > Blog > Browse Blog
BLOG
First Amendment
DISCLOSE Act fails on party-line, procedural vote
Published on July 27, 2010 04:12 PM
Category: Disclosure, First Amendment, Independent Speech
The Center for Competitive Politics and fellow travelers who support First Amendment rights in politics won a major battle today as the DISCLOSE Act failed on a party-line, procedural vote (57-to-41). But the fight is not over. Minutes after the vote, Democracy21 and other pro-regulation groups vowed a lame duck effort to pass this bill in September. The Hill quotes the bill's Senate sponsor, Chuck Schumer, as saying the majority will attempt to "go back at this bill again and again and again u
DISCLOSE done for?
Published on July 27, 2010 02:30 PM
Category: Disclosure, First Amendment, Independent Speech
Fox News reports that Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine), who had been considered a swing vote on the DISCLOSE Act, will vote against cloture later this afternoon: Complaining that there have been "no hearings, no vetting, no attempt to bring people together," Snowe touted her own past work on the issue and added, "I know the new routine on legislation these days is to ram and jam...but it really does take time...It really does require building a consensus." Also, a spokesman for Sen. Dianne Fei
Down to the wire on DISCLOSE
Published on July 27, 2010 12:19 PM
Category: Disclosure, First Amendment, Independent Speech
As the DISCLOSE Act heads for a cloture vote in the Senate (expected at 2:45 p.m.), various media outlets are reporting that Sen. Joe Lieberman will miss the vote. This development means that Democrats will almost certainly be unable to invoke cloture and move to passage of this speech-restricting legislation. Other reports indicate that Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) will vote yes to invoke cloture while Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) will vote no. Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) is the main question ma
Fact-checking final DISCLOSE push
Published on July 26, 2010 04:07 PM
Category: Disclosure, First Amendment, Independent Speech
As the end-game for the DISCLOSE Act nears, its supporters are engaging in an all-out effort to obfuscate the worst parts of the bill and characterize its opponents as opposed to basic transparency in politics. The Senate will hold a procedural vote on the DISCLOSE Act at 2:45 p.m. Tuesday. Democrats do not yet have a Republican vote for the DISCLOSE Act and Sen. Chuck Schumer, the bill's sponsor, acknowledged Monday that he's having trouble holding his own caucus together for the vote.
JournoList and the First Amendment
Published on July 21, 2010 11:30 AM
Category: First Amendment, Press
JournoList, the listserve discussion group of left-leaning journalists and academics founded by Washington Post columnist Ezra Klein, is back in the news for allegedly helping the Obama campaign to deal with the controversy surrounding Reverend Jeremiah Wright in the 2008 campaign. Michael Calderone of Politico first reported on JournoList in March of 2009, writing: For the past two years, several hundred left-leaning bloggers, political reporters, magazine writers, policy wo
Media mavens against Citizens United
Published on July 6, 2010 02:12 PM
Category: Disclosure, First Amendment, Independent Speech
Citizens United is in the news again nearly a month after the Federal Election Commission decided that the advocacy nonprofit with an active documentary arm qualified for the media exemption (CCP's Allison Hayward wrote about the competing FEC AO's in early June). The press exemption, a special privilege bestowed by Congress, allows entities deemed legitimate media corporations by the government to avoid complying with burdensome campaign finance regulations that apply to other corporatio
Riddle me this: Why are New Mexico politicians trying to chill Iceman's speech?
Published on June 25, 2010 02:02 PM
Category: Disclosure, First Amendment, Independent Speech
The First Amendment is supposed to prevent the government from being able to punish citizens simply for engaging in speech that the government does not approve. Apparently, word of this 200-plus year provision in our Constitution has yet to reach the northern parts of New Mexico. The Wall Street Journal on Monday reported the tale of longtime New Mexico resident and actor Val Kilmer and his efforts to get a permit allowing him to convert his ranch into a bed and breakfast...
Chamber of Commerce web video targets 'DISCLOSE Act'
Published on June 25, 2010 01:49 PM
Category: Disclosure, Expenditure, First Amendment, Independent Speech
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce premiered a new web video on the DISCLOSE Act, the unconstitional campaign finance bill that the House narrowly passed Thursday. Check it out:
Doe, oh dear. USSC opens petitions to use, abuse
Published on June 24, 2010 11:36 AM
Category: Disclosure, First Amendment
The Supreme Court has held today in Doe v. Reed that the release of the identities of individuals who sign a referendum petition does not violate the First Amendment. As many will recall, this case involved the threatened publicity of signers seeking to overturn state legislation providing for gay marriage. Supporters of the legislation – who obviously opposed a referendum – wanted to integrate the petition information with maps, to allow their supporters to identify an
Revisions to DISCLOSE on eve of House vote
Published on June 23, 2010 08:20 PM
Category: Contributions & Limits, Disclosure, Expenditure, First Amendment, Independent Speech, Political Parties, Stand By Your Ad
No fireworks exploded at this afternoon's House Rules Committee hearing on the DISCLOSE Act (H.R. 5175). First Amendment political rights, though, remain at serious risk of going up in smoke as the majority moves forward with an ill-advised bill to ban a significant amount of political speech that was legal even before Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. After two false starts (one before Memorial Day and the second last week), the Committee adopted a rule that provides for an
