Eric H. Holder, Jr, the 82nd Attorney General of the United States, and Former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger today signed the End Gerrymandering Pledge, a new initiative of Common Cause to advance fair redistricting reform that is transparent, nondiscriminatory and politically impartial in advance of the 2020 Census.  

Rucho v. Common Cause is the most extreme, overt, and brutal partisan gerrymander this Court or any court has ever seen, says Emmet Bondurant, lead counsel in the case.

Yesterday, Common Cause joined by Public Knowledge, United Church of Christ OC, Inc., and Sports Fans Coalition filed a petition with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) asking the agency to deny the proposed merger of Nexstar Media Group and Tribune Media Company. If approved, Nexstar would control 216 stations across 118 markets reaching 72 percent of U.S. households, far exceeding the Congressionally established ownership cap of 39 percent.

Today, Common Cause filed complaints with the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Federal Election Commission (FEC) alleging reason to believe that a Florida businesswoman violated campaign finance laws by enlisting and reimbursing “straw donors” tens of thousands of dollars in political contributions related to the reelection efforts of Donald Trump.

Today, Democratic leaders in the House and Senate introduced the Save the Internet Act. The bill reverses the reckless and unlawful repeal of net neutrality by the Trump FCC in December 2017 and returns to the framework in the 2015 Open Internet Order. Under the current framework, broadband service providers are free to block, throttle, or create fast lanes and slow lanes by charging extra fees to prioritize certain content. Common Cause welcomes the introduction of the Save the Internet Act to restore strong net neutrality rules.  

Today, Common Cause urged every member of the U.S. House of Representatives to vote “yes” on the For the People Act (H.R. 1) when it goes to a floor vote on Friday. The letter notes that Common Cause plans to key-vote final passage of H.R. 1, as well as the motion-to-recommit (MTR), in our Democracy Scorecard, which we send to our 1.2 million members. The bill contains the most comprehensive set of democracy reforms to be introduced in Congress since the post-Watergate reforms were passed in the 1970s. The letter emphasizes that our...

Common Cause filed its final brief with the U.S. Supreme Court today, three weeks in advance of oral arguments in Rucho v. Common Cause. The case challenges an extreme Republican gerrymander in North Carolina that was found to be unconstitutional twice by a federal district court. 

In a misleading statement released yesterday, Georgia Secretary of State (SOS) Brad Raffensperger claimed that the cost of deploying a voting system relying on hand-marked paper ballots and ballot marking devices for disability access would exceed the cost of deploying only electronic ballot marking devices for every voting station.  

The American people deserve accountability for President Trump’s abuse of presidential powers. The bipartisan congressional resolution blocking President Trump’s national emergency declaration to build his border wall is the correct step forward to put a check on President Trump.

Broadcasters are seldom bashful, but this new effort to apply the archaic, discredited UHF discount to VHF stations is as blatant a land-grab as I’ve ever seen. It would push consolidation into warp speed, further decimate local news, and result in many more communities which can only listen and never speak for themselves.