Press Release

Today, Common Cause filed comments urging the Federal Election Commission (FEC) to conduct a rulemaking proceeding in order to adopt a regulation to prohibit billionaires like Michael Bloomberg from evading federal law limits on contributions to party committees by routing funds through their own campaign committees. Bloomberg’s $18 million contribution to the Democratic National Committee—and hundreds of thousands of dollars in-kind contributions to state Democratic party committees—from his self-financed presidential campaign committee took advantage of a longstanding allowance for candidates to transfer unlimited leftover campaign funds to party committees. Previously those funds were raised under existing contribution limits, but Bloomberg self-financed his campaign to the tune or more than $1 billion.

Washington, D.C. — August 22, 2020. Today the House of Representatives passed the Delivering for America Act, H.R. 8015 to halt changes to U.S. Postal Service operations and provide $25 billion in emergency funding during the COVID-19 pandemic. Common Cause’s President, Karen Hobert Flynn released the following statement: “We applaud the House of Representatives for standing up for the millions of Americans who rely on the U.S. Postal Service every day and passing the Delivering for America Act, H.R. 8015 to reverse changes to operations and provide $25 billion in funding during the pandemic. With tens of millions of Americans expected to vote by mail this year, it is appalling that the Trump administration would try to suppress our vote by hampering the USPS. Many communities and groups greatly depend on the USPS: seniors and people with disabilities for their social security benefits and prescription medications; rural and Native communities who lack other affordable delivery options; Americans who lack Internet connectivity; workers for their paychecks; veterans for medicines and VA benefits; and small businesses to ship their products to customers.”

Tonight, Common Cause filed motions for expedited review and summary judgment in its challenge to President Trump’s memorandum requiring the exclusion of undocumented people from being counted in the congressional apportionment base following the 2020 census.  Should the court find summary judgment unavailable, Common Cause moved in the alternative for an expedited trial on the merits. The motions filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in Common Cause v. Trump urge the court to expedite proceedings so that a final judgment and appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court can be completed before January  2021, when the President is scheduled to send apportionment numbers to Congress. 

The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law and its pro bono counsel, Arnold & Porter LLP, filed suit this evening in federal court for the District of Maryland on behalf of the National Urban League, Common Cause and the League of Women Voters U.S. against Postmaster General Louis DeJoy and the United States Postal Service, challenging actions intended to disrupt the 2020 election by making it more difficult for mail ballots to be delivered on time.