Yesterday’s #Acquittal of Fmr. President Trump (by senators representing barely 1/3 of the country) underscores the urgent need to repair American democracy, beginning with swift passage of the landmark #ForThePeopleAct (a/k/a #HR1 and #S1) brennancenter.org/our-work/polic…
#HR1 includes the most ambitious expansion of voting access for eligible voters since the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Automatic + same day voter registration. Restoration of voting rights to the formerly incarcerated. Expanded early + mail voting. A commitment to restore the #VRA
Never forget that the #CapitolInsurrection was spurred by lies about “voter fraud” that have driven increasingly brazen #VoterSuppression efforts, primarily targeting Black and brown Americans. Trump harnessed these lies to try an overturn the election, but he didn’t invent them.
And they are not going away. New restrictions driven by these lies have already been introduced in 33 states just this year, a four-fold increase relative to last year. brennancenter.org/our-work/resea…
The #ForThePeopleAct, alongside the John Lewis Voting Rights Act to fully restore the #VRA, would help us finally put the era of entrenched interests manipulating voting rules based on false premises in the rearview mirror.
But that’s just the beginning. We are also approaching another decennial redistricting cycle in which hyperpartisan state legislators (incl. some who flirted with “Stop the Steal”) will likely try to manipulate congressional district lines in key states.
Once again, Black and brown communities will be among the primary targets of these efforts. brennancenter.org/sites/default/…
The #ForThePeopleAct would ban partisan gerrymandering of congressional districts, mandate the use of standards that protect communities of color, require independent commissions to draw lines + much more.
The #ForThePeopleAct would also take a huge bite out of #CitizensUnited and help to fix a broken campaign finance system in which the very wealthiest donors have exponentially more clout than they did even a decade ago. brennancenter.org/our-work/analy…
Recent coverage has featured stories of corporations cutting off campaign money to congressional ringleaders of the plot to subvert the election. But it was these wealthy interests who bankrolled the rise of so many extreme members of Congress. brennancenter.org/our-work/analy…
The #ForThePeopleAct would democratize how we fund our federal election campaigns by amplifying small donors, who are far more representative of America’s true diversity than the current donor class —all at no cost to taxpayers. brennancenter.org/our-work/resea…
It would also eliminate secret money loopholes (exploited by some groups that funded the insurrection), shore up protections against foreign interference in US elections, and overhaul the @FEC the ensure that laws on the books are actually enforced.
Finally, the #ForThePeopleAct contains an aggressive expansion of federal ethics safeguards to help prevent the worst abuses of the Trump era from recurring.
Key provisions, like making the president obey federal conflict of interest rules and disclose his taxes, and significantly expanding federal ethics enforcement, track recs of the @BrennanCenter’s own bipartisan task force on rule of law and democracy. brennancenter.org/our-work/polic…
It goes w/o saying that all of these reforms deserve bipartisan support. Indeed, all the key provisions in the #ForThePeopleAct enjoy broad cross-partisan appeal, and many were enacted by lopsided majorities in the states.
It is precisely for this reason that the same minoritarian forces that blocked conviction in the Senate must not be allowed to thwart the effort to repair our democratic systems.
The push to #EndTheFilibuster is critical for many reasons, as my colleague @crfredrickson’s recent paper lays out. By rights it should not be needed to pass the #ForThePeopleAct, but if that’s what it takes, Senate leaders should act without delay. brennancenter.org/our-work/resea…
I forgot to mention: for a deeper dive into the #ForThePeopleAct, check out this annotated guide we put together: brennancenter.org/our-work/polic…

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More from @DanWeiner329

25 Jan
The Supreme Court has dismissed the remaining lawsuits against Fmr. President Trump for violating the Foreign and Domestic Emoluments clauses, constitutional provisions barring POTUS from taking benefits from foreign govts and US states. The ball is now in Congress’s court.
The Emoluments Clauses are critical safeguards whose enforcement would have stopped some of the worst corruption of the Trump years. Huge credit to the many individuals + orgs that rescued them from relative obscurity and brought them into the public consciousness.
But one-off lawsuits were always going to be an uphill battle, requiring tremendous resources. To truly give full effect to these provisions, Congress needs to establish a clear statutory framework for applying them + robust enforcement mechanisms.
Read 5 tweets
15 Jan
The @WSJ is out with an editorial today slamming the historic democracy reforms in #HR1 with the same tired arguments they and others have deployed many times before. Let’s take them one by one, shall we? 1/many
First, we have dog whistle arguments about “California-style election rules” —a/k/a rules that make it easier for all eligible voters to cast their ballots, even voters who — gasp — need food stamps.
Virtually all of these changes have already been adopted in many states of varying political hues. Automatic voter registration, one of the most significant, passed the Illinois House unanimously.
Read 17 tweets
23 Dec 20
Apropos of nothing, #pardon accountability is a critical rule of law reform law that needs to be a priority. Here is the proposal crafted by our bipartisan task force co-chaired by @PreetBharara and @GovCTW. #pardons #pardonpalooza brennancenter.org/our-work/polic…
Important to acknowledge that pardon abuse isn’t a new problem, but as usual this president has taken it to a new level. That’s been true for a while. brennancenter.org/our-work/analy…
Fortunately, there is excellent legislation already pending before Congress, the Protecting our Democracy Act, which addresses pardons among a number of critical issues. It deserves swift passage.
Read 4 tweets
6 Sep 20
This is called “giving in the name of another” and if knowing and willful, it’s a federal crime to do or ask others to do. washingtonpost.com/investigations…
Of course there is no way to be sure just from a news article if that’s what happened here. But even if lawbreaking wasn’t intentional, it is still deeply troubling (I’d certainly like to know which “former FEC general counsel” told them it was ok).
The problem, of course, is that we don’t have a functional regulator in this space—the @FEC is completely broken. That fosters a culture of impunity where deeply troubling conduct like this becomes a perfectly acceptable way to get ahead.
Read 5 tweets
26 Jun 20
With @FEC Commissioner Hunter resigning, we are heading into November with one of the frontline agencies charged with protecting the integrity of our elections once again immobilized, during a pandemic that has turned the whole campaign on its head. It’s like a perfect storm.
The FEC has been without a quorum for most of the last 10 months. No enforcement of campaign finance laws. No rulemakings. No guidance for candidates who are having to cope with a campaign that has shifted to being largely online.
Meanwhile the Kremlin and other foreign governments are gearing up for a disinformation campaign that could dwarf what we saw in 2016.
Read 8 tweets
27 May 20
The Constitution is not a suicide pact. During the unprecedented #COVID__19 pandemic, Congress (and its state counterparts) must be able to continue to play their essential role. It’s sad that we can’t seem to come together even around this basic principle.
The rules Leader McCarthy is suing to overturn do not allow one member to “control” another’s vote, as he argues. They allow the member who is present to cast the vote of the absent member pursuant to the absent member’s specific instructions. Big difference
As @VBass and I argued in a paper released last week, proxy voting isn’t ideal under ordinary circumstances, but it’s an acceptable short-term solution (full virtual session a la the British and Canadian parliaments would be even better) brennancenter.org/our-work/resea…
Read 5 tweets

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