Press Release

Briefs filed today in Common Cause v. Rucho in the Middle-District of Central North Carolina.

With President Trump’s nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh, and with so much at stake for future generations, the Senate must focus on core principles of democracy as it decides whether to give its consent to this lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court.  

Whether Scott Pruitt resigned or was forced out, he had repeatedly shown himself unworthy of the office and he had to go. Pruitt's tenure has been a long, unbroken string of ethical lapses, maladministration, and relentless attacks on the environment he was charged with protecting. A cascade of investigations into his abuse of taxpayer funds, hiding his schedule, sweetheart apartment lease deals, and first-class flights made a mockery of public service. This partial litany of his scandals -- unearthed by environmental groups, watchdogs, and journalists -- speak for themselves, but he is hardly alone among President Trump’s appointees.

Today, Common Cause issued a new report examining how corrections industry influence, felony disenfranchisement and prison gerrymandering fuel mass incarceration and undermine democracy. Democracy Behind Bars looks at our broken criminal justice system and how it is manipulated for the benefit and profit of the prison industry. The report goes on to examine the work going on in the states to restore voting rights to citizens who have served their time and to curb mass criminalization and incarceration.

Except for one state legislative district, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld Texas congressional and state legislative districts and overturned a lower court decision that the districts were racially discriminatory. The lower court in Abbott v. Perez had previously determined that the districts violated 14th Amendment equal protection and the Voting Rights Act. Common Cause filed an amicus brief on behalf of the plaintiff-appellees in this case.

The Rucho v. Common Cause organizational plaintiffs include Common Cause and the North Carolina Democratic Party. Both organizations have members in every congressional district in North Carolina. Rucho v. Common Cause also has individual plaintiffs, including  at least one voter from each of North Carolina’s 13 congressional districts.