BREAKING: Today, a fed judge suspended enforcement of FL’s #HB7, the Stop WOKE Act, as it clearly violates the Constitution by infringing on the free speech of biz owners in FL like plaintiffs in our case against HB7. 1/5 s3.documentcloud.org/documents/2214…
From the decision: “Florida’s Legislators may well find Plaintiffs’ speech repugnant. But under our constitutional scheme, the ‘remedy’ for repugnant speech is more speech, not enforced silence.” 2/5
“If Florida truly believes we live in a post-racial society, then let it make its case. But it cannot win the argument by muzzling its opponents.” 3/5
We sued on behalf of 3 FL business owners to challenge HB7’s vague prohibitions on talking to employees about race, gender, or national origin, citing the 1st & 14th Amendments in our case. Read more about our HB7 fight. 4/5 protectdemocracy.org/project/challe…
The Stop WOKE Act is a speech code that takes a page from the authoritarian playbook. It seeks to censor ideas that challenge govt officials’ preferred narrative, muzzle independent institutions, and direct outrage toward disfavored groups. 5/5 protectdemocracy.org/project/the-au…
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NEW: How Congress can better ensure the peaceful transfer of power from one president to the next by addressing five critical weaknesses in the #ElectoralCountAct (ECA).
Here are the five critical issues that legislation updating the #ECA should address: [2/5]
Additionally, today a group of bipartisan legal experts working with @AmLawInst released their own shared principles for updating the #ECA, which underscores broad cross-ideological consensus on key elements of reform. [3/5] lawfareblog.com/principles-ele…
NEW: @TheJusticeDept alumni, served in both R & D admins, applaud AG Garland's commitment to holding accountable anyone "at any level" who was "criminally responsible for the assault on our democracy" on #Jan6 — whether in the Capitol or not. 1/4 medium.com/@DOJ.Alumni/st…
The investigation "should extend to any actions of administration officials & others to overturn the will of the voters that preceded and followed the insurrection," says their letter, incl. “attempts to pressure federal & state officials to violate their responsibilities." 2/4
The @TheJusticeDept alumni support the AG in investigating high-ranking officials, incl. the former POTUS if that’s where the evidence leads. Doing so is not politicizing the DOJ, they write, it is the embodiment of its mission to pursue equal justice. 3/4
Since January 6th, Republican-led state legislatures have introduced over 262 election subversion bills in 41 states with 32 becoming law across 17 states. (1/4) protectdemocracy.org/project/democr…
The #FreedomToVoteAct would create a statutory right to vote and includes critical provisions against interference with election administration to help prevent election results from being manipulated or overturned by partisan state actors. (2/4)
While bipartisanship is an endangered species these days, we polled on this issue and found widespread bipartisan support for measures to prevent subversion of future elections. (3/4) protectdemocracy.org/update/polling…
BREAKING: 66 former R & D members of Congress today urged the courts to refuse Trump’s request to block the release of #Jan6 records: because a violent attack to stop a transfer of power, not a transfer of documents, is the real threat to democracy. 1/5 protectdemocracy.org/update/sixty-s…
Their amicus brief comes in support of the @January6thCmte investigation: one “critical for Congress to be able to ‘legislate wisely [and] effectively’ in order to preserve, protect, and defend the peaceful transition of power. Read it here: 2/5 protectdemocracy.org/resource-libra…
The @January6thCmte must be able to "access the critical information to which it is entitled, and which Congress needs to successfully exercise its legislative powers to protect our constitutional democracy from future autocrats and demagogues," the bipartisan group writes. 3/5
Today over 350 scholars of the filibuster, the Senate, and American democracy—including a dozen Pulitzer Prize winners—sent a letter to U.S. senators calling for filibuster reform. See the letter here, and read our thread below 🧵⬇️ medium.com/@Historians-Sc…
The letter argues that the Framers of the Constitution explicitly rejected supermajority thresholds for regular legislation in the wake of the Articles of Confederation, “which prescribed a supermajority for a variety of federal actions” and led to paralyzing gridlock.
As Alexander Hamilton warned in Federalist No. 22, minority vetoes in Congress would “destroy the energy of the government” by keeping it in “a state of inaction.”
🕵️♂️Inspectors general identify waste, fraud & abuse across the federal gov’t, saving millions of 💵 per year.
But reforms are needed to protect IGs from political retaliation, ensure they’re empowered to follow the facts independently, + give Congress transparency for oversight.
Whistleblowers likewise notify authorities like Congress of wrongdoing across government.
Yet a lack of protections against retaliation + ways to vindicate their rights makes it harder for patriotic employees to blow the whistle on waste, fraud & abuse. thefulcrum.us/government-eth…