Hundreds Expected to Rally Against Big Money in Politics During Argument of McCutcheon v. FEC
WASHINGTON – October 3 – On Tuesday, as the Supreme Court hears oral arguments in McCutcheon v. FEC, activists and organizations across a wide spectrum of issues will speak out in support of protecting the integrity of our democracy at a rally outside the court. In the McCutcheon case, the Supreme Court will decide whether or not to strike down important caps on how much money an individual can contribute directly to political campaigns.
WHAT: Rally against big money in politics and McCutcheon v. FEC
WHERE: The Supreme Court of the United States (1 First St NE, Washington, DC)
WHEN: Tuesday, October 8th at 9:30 am (speakers at 10:00am)
FEATURED SPEAKERS:
* Reverend Dr. William Barber II, Moral Monday leader and chapter leader of North Carolina NAACP
* Congressman John Sarbanes, Maryland – District 3
* Larry Cohen, president, Communications Workers of America
* Phil Radford, executive director, Greenpeace USA
* Marge Baker, rally co-host and xecutive vice president, People For the American Way
* Blair Bowie, rally co-host and democracy advocate, US PIRG
* Liz Kennedy, counsel, DEMOS
* Mary Boyle, vice president of communications, Common Cause
* Josh Silver, director, Represent.Us
* Matthew Segal, president, Our Time
* Steve Cobble, senior political advisor, Free Speech For People
* David Borris, executive committee member, Main Street Alliance
* Brendien Mitchell, Howard University fellow, Young People For
* Craig L. Rice, Maryland state director, Young Elected Officials Network
* Tom Blackton, retired teacher/school principal, Center For Community Change
PARTNERS: Alliance for a Just Society, Center For Community Change, Coffee Party, Communication Workers of America, Common Cause, Corporate Accountability International, Democracy Initiative, DEMOS, Food & Water Watch, Free Speech For People, Greenpeace, Main Street Alliance, MoveOn, Our Time, People For the American Way, Public Campaign, Represent.Us, Sierra Club, US PIRG, Young Elected Officials Network, Young People For.
JOIN THE COMMON CAUSE PHONE BRIEFING: http://cmnca.us/
More on the case:
A lawsuit challenging caps on donations to federal candidates and political committees invites a new era of corruption in American politics, Common Cause and other government watchdog groups asserted today.
In a “friend of the court” brief, authored by legal counsel at the Campaign Legal Center and filed in the U.S. Supreme Court, the groups argue that a ruling lifting the “aggregate limit” on donations would permit a single donor “explicitly seeking favors” to funnel more than $3.6 million to a party and federal candidates in just one election cycle. Candidates would be free to solicit such contributions, it adds. Each donor could pump millions more into the election through donations to political action committees, the brief added.
The Republican-backed lawsuit, McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission, does not challenge the existing $2,600 limit on donations to a single candidate or other caps on individual gifts to a party organization or political action committee. But it asserts that thanks to other changes in federal election law, the $123,200 cumulative cap on donations to federal candidates and committees in a single election cycle is no longer needed to prevent corruption.
That argument, Common Cause and the other watchdog groups countered, turns “a blind eye to the real world consequences of eliminating the longstanding aggregate limits… and disregard(s) the ways the limits continue to advance the governmental interest in preventing corruption and the appearance of corruption.”
The high court has scheduled oral arguments in the case for Oct. 8.
In addition to Common Cause, groups joining in the brief filed Thursday include the Campaign Legal Center, AARP, Asian Americans Advancing Justice, Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, the League of Women Voters of the United States, Progressives United and Public Campaign.
Common Cause is a nonpartisan, nonprofit advocacy organization founded in 1970 by John Gardner as a vehicle for citizens to make their voices heard in the political process and to hold their elected leaders accountable to the public interest.