This memo outlines how the Justices lined up on the issues in Randall v. Sorrell, provides some analysis of the opinions, and touches on the implications for future reform efforts.

Testimony of Demos' Democracy Program Legal Director on restoring contribution limits in Vermont, delivered before the Vermont House Government Operations Committee on February 5, 2008.

Chairman Schumer, Ranking Member Alexander, and Members of the Committee, thank you for the opportunity to submit testimony on behalf of Demos for the record in support of the Democracy is Strengthened by Casting Light on Spending in Elections Act of 2012.  DISCLOSE is a straightforward solution to

Thank you for this opportunity to submit testimony regarding the damage that Citizens United and the rise of Super PACs has done to our system of democratic government.  In the text below I will discuss why rules that govern the role of money in politics are important to our democracy; the impact of

The extent of the money in politics problem, how we got here (from a legal perspective), and what we can do to create a democracy in which the strength of a citizen’s voice does not depend on the size of her wallet. 

In August 2011, Congress passed a strange piece of legislation intended to bind itself into the future. In spite of persistently high unemployment and an unremarkable deficit-to-GDP ratio, and in spite of public polling that consistently showed that creating jobs was  the American public’s top

McCutcheon struck down the limit on the total amount that one wealthy donor is permitted to contribute to all federal candidates, parties, and political action committees (PACs) combined.

Five years after the Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United v. FEC decision, what are the roles of large donors and average voters in selecting and supporting candidates for Congress?

A functioning democracy requires a government responsive to people considered as political equals. Citizens United flew in the face of that principle.

“For let it be agreed that a government is republican in proportion as every member composing it has an equal voice in the direction of its concerns…”  Thomas Jefferson Letter to Samuel Kercheval, July 12, 1816