New Challenge to Speech Regulations Filed

From Dan Backer:

McCutcheon Lawyer Files Challenge to Another Unconstitutional McCain-Feingold Speech Restraint;


Challenge Would Allow Libertarian Parties to Have Independent Expenditure-Only Accounts


 


WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Libertarian Party of Indiana, Libertarian National Congressional Committee, and donor Chris Rufer have filed a First Amendment challenge to restraints on speech. The suit, Rufer, et. al. v FEC, challenges the lack of a valid anti-corruption rationale for preventing party committees -particularly “minor” or third parties-from establishing their own Independent Expenditure only accounts, as PACs are able to do. Plaintiffs are represented by Michael Morley, a part of Shaun McCutcheon’s legal team in the recent Supreme Court victory for speech, McCutcheon, et. al. v FEC, litigating for the Coolidge Reagan Foundation which promotes First Amendment rights, and Danielle Frisa of the Houston law firm Shahla PC,   


 


Morley described the case in simple terms, “If Party committees engage in the same prophylactic measures to prevent coordination that the FEC has clearly established for other organizations, it is unreasonable to deny them the same speech rights.”


 


Coolidge Reagan Foundation Chairman and fellow McCutcheon attorney, Dan Backer, noted, “Political parties are the coming together of like-minded citizens to promote the candidacy of those who share their ideals; whatever justification exists to limit direct or earmarked contributions, the Court and the law now recognize the importance of independent expenditure speech in the political process, and it makes no sense to give less speech to party committees.”


 


The case was filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia with request for a 3-judge panel, pursuant to a special provision for challenges to the constitutionality of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act, more commonly known as McCain-Feingold. The case is numbered 1:14-cv-00837-CRC and filings are available on the FEC website at http://fec.gov/law/litigation/Rufer.shtml


Federal Judge throws out PRLDEF voting rights lawsuit in Orange County, Florida

A federal judge has sided with Orange County and rebuffed claims that elected officials had diluted Hispanic voting power in drawing its new County Commission districts, sources say.

The voting rights lawsuit was filed against the county by local Hispanic residents and LatinoJustice PRLDEF, a New York City civil rights group

…The plaintiffs alleged that Orange leaders in 2011 crafted new political borders that diluted Hispanic voting strength.

Namely, they point to a District 3 seat that had been held by Hispanics in recent decades. And despite a surge in Latinos countywide during the past 10 years, District 3 actually saw its percentage of Hispanics drop after redistricting.

Lawyers for Orange County say the new borders actually created two districts — 3 and 4 — where Hispanics now have a shot to win. The districts both now have more than 40 percent Hispanic populations, a number large enough in the past to elect two different Latinos to District 3, they say.

“U.S. Rep. Conyers loses appeal to get on ballot”



Do 50-year career Congressmen have to follow election laws? For now the answer is yes, but Conyers is working to throw out a simple state law that his campaign couldn’t manage to follow this election cycle:


 


U.S. Rep. John Conyers, No. 2 in seniority in the House of Representatives, lost his appeal Friday to get on the August primary ballot after Michigan election officials found problems with the Democrat’s nominating petitions…


 


A federal judge is expected to rule later Friday on Conyers’ request to throw out a Michigan election law as unconstitutional.  Conyers, 85, had appealed to the state after Wayne County officials said there were problems with some people who collected signatures. The circulators weren’t registered to vote or had listed a wrong registration address.


 


That can spoil petitions, under Michigan law, and as a result Conyers lacks the 1,000 signatures necessary to get on the ballot.


 


“Jim Crow Prowls Paradise”

“Imagine if a state didn’t let someone vote in an election because their grandfather wasn’t the correct race. Surely lawyers in Eric Holder’s Justice Department would be typing up a lawsuit as fast as fingers could fly across the keyboard. After all, this is the President who boasted he was a champion for voting rights, falsely we’d later learn.

Eric Holder compared voter ID to a modern version of Jim Crow. But a recent federal court opinion shows Jim Crow is alive and well, and living in paradise.

This week, the United States District Court in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) struck down a law that prevented American citizens from voting in a referendum on a constitutional amendment if they were not of “Northern Mariana descent.”

The plaintiff, John Davis, should have enjoyed the help of the United States Justice Department Voting Section.”

Full story at PJ Media.

FL Democrat mayor linked to absentee ballot fraud is indicted for wire fraud in $8M mortgage scheme



Another corrupt Florida mayor:


Lucie Tondreau, who has been marred by scandal since she was elected mayor of North Miami last year, will be charged in the conspiracy alongside three other suspects.  According to the indictment, between 2005 and 2008, Tondreau conspired with the president of a South Florida mortgage company to recruit straw borrowers to obtain mortgages… The indictment also alleges that the co-conspirators fabricated HUD-1 Settlement forms which misrepresented that straw borrowers had made down payments and closing payments on homes…



Tondreau is also being investigated in connection with illegal absentee ballot requests:



Last year, Florida state prosecutors linked requests for 60 absentee ballots to an Internet address from Tondreau’s office. Tondreau denied any wrongdoing in that case. Tondreau’s campaign treasurer was discovered with the pile of absentee ballots in his vehicle. Florida law allows only individual voters or family members of voters to request absentee ballots.


 


Federal Court Strikes Down Racially Exclusionary Election

Imagine an election where only voters of one race were allowed to vote, and every other race was not allowed to vote.  Do you think Eric Holder’s Justice Department would be involved?  You’d think.

But they weren’t.

I’ll have more about this shortly.  Here is the court opinion from the Federal Court in the CNMI striking down a brazenly racially discriminatory election as violating the Constitution and Voting Rights Act, and nowhere in sight was the DOJ.

It’s not hard to figure out why DOJ sat this one out.  Just ponder a bit about the plaintiff and a bit about the beneficiaries of the racially discriminatory law.

Voter Fraud in Iowa Earns Five Years in Prison

Moral of the story, if you are an ineligible felon, don’t register and vote:

“Brian Lee Bird pled guilty to first degree election misconduct. It’s a felony conviction and Bird was sentenced to five years in prison according to a news release from the Iowa Secretary of State’s office.

Bird registered to vote and cast a ballot in Knoxville during the 2012 general election, however he was not eligible to vote because he was a felon who had not completed his probation. Bird’s previous felony conviction was for domestic abuse causing injury.”

Voter Fraud: NJ Democrat Has Court Hearing

Absentee ballot fraud case involving a Democrat official goes to court.  He previously blamed the charges on him being a Latino:

“Paterson Councilman Rigo Rodriguez and his wife, Lissette, will be back in court in July after pleading not guilty on Tuesday to charges that they committed fraud in a 2010 election that Rodriguez won by a narrow margin. The Rodriguezes were indicted in March on allegations that they submitted absentee ballots in Rodriguez’s bid for reelection as votes for people who never authorized them. They also are accused of coaching campaign workers to lie to authorities who were investigating allegations of voter fraud.”