Free Republic

New Jersey state lawmakers did an about-face on a controversial bill that critics said would have given government bureaucrats and politicians more power to block information from the public. Some Garden State Democrats had looked to fast-track the bill to change the state’s open records law but backed off on Thursday, pulling the proposal before a key committee could vote to advance it. The decision was hailed as a victory for open-government advocates who fought tooth and nail to kill it — even though it may not be gone for good. “Democracy only functions when the voice of the people...

One of the most pernicious phenomena of modern times is the collusive lawsuit. This is how it works: a left-wing organization sues a government agency that is also controlled by the left. The lawsuit alleges that the agency is obliged to do something that the agency would like to do, but the Democrats can’t get it passed. Then the parties–supposedly adverse, but actually in collusion–“settle” the case by having the agency agree to do what it wanted to do all along. If all goes well, a court enters an order enforcing the settlement. So the net effect is that a...

PORT WASHINGTON, Wis. – An Wisconsin judge on Friday ordered the state to remove hundreds of thousands of people from Wisconsin's voter rolls because they may have moved. The case is being closely watched because of the state's critical role in next year's presidential race. Ozaukee County Judge Paul Malloy also denied the League of Women Voters of Wisconsin's petition to intervene. Lawyers for the League and for the Wisconsin Elections Commission indicated they will appeal and asked Malloy to stay his ruling pending those appeals, but he declined. *SNIP* Before Friday's hearing, Democrat state Attorney General Josh Kaul said...

Leaked funding documents reveal an effort by George Soros and his foundations to manipulate election laws and process rules ahead of the federal election far more expansively than has been previously reported. The billionaire and convicted felon moved hundreds of millions of dollars into often-secret efforts to change election laws, fuel litigation to attack election integrity measures, push public narratives about voter fraud, and to integrate the political ground game of the left with efforts to scare racial minority groups about voting rights threats. These Soros-funded efforts moved through dozens of 501(c)(3) and (c)(4) charities and involved the active compliance with civil rights groups, government...

A three-judge panel on Thursday ruled that Michigan must use new congressional and legislative maps in 2020, potentially setting up a more favorable battlefield for House Democrats, who flipped two seats in the state last fall. The federal court invalidated portions of the existing maps, drawn by the GOP-controlled legislature in 2011, pointing to an unconstitutional partisan gerrymander that violates the First and Fourteenth Amendment rights of voters. The League of Women Voters and some Democrats had challenged the state’s 162 legislative and congressional districts, but the final suit only targeted 34 of those districts. Michigan has 14 congressional districts....

A panel of three federal judges in Michigan ruled Thursday that the state’s legislature unfairly drew up state and congressional districts and must come up with new boundaries. The lawsuit was filed by the League of Women Voters of Michigan and alleged that Republicans in the state legislature had purposely drawn up districts that disadvantage Democratic candidates. The three judges said in their ruling that 27 of the 34 challenged districts violated the plaintiffs’ First and 14th Amendment rights “by diluting the weight of their votes.” The judges also found every one of the districts challenged violated the plaintiffs’ First...

The League of Women Voters claims the election of Donald Trump for president was rigged because states enforced their voter ID laws. . . . Sixteen states require have voter ID laws, and another 15 states permit voters to show some other form of ID. Nineteen states and Washington, D.C. have no ID mandate. Despite the last-minute attempt to use the voter ID issue as a reason to claim that Hillary Clinton may have conceded too early because her voters were suppressed at the polls, 80 percent of Americans, according to Gallup, support showing a form of legal identification to...

Several well-funded organizations -- including the League of Women Voters and the NAACP -- are fighting efforts to prevent non-citizens from voting illegally in the upcoming presidential election. And the United States Department of Justice, under the direction of Attorney General Loretta Lynch, is helping them. On February 12, these groups filed a lawsuit in D.C. federal court seeking to reverse a recent decision by the U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC). The Commission's decision allows Kansas and other states, including Arizona and Georgia, to enforce state laws ensuring that only citizens register to vote when they use a federally designed...

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — The political careers of several members of Congress — including a Republican seeking to become the next U.S. House speaker — could come to an abrupt halt under a sweeping overhaul of Florida's electoral map. Florida Circuit Judge Terry Lewis on Friday recommended new boundaries for the state's 27 congressional districts, some of which would make it nearly impossible for U.S. Rep. Dan Webster — one of the hard-line conservatives who pushed John Boehner to resign as speaker and then turned on Boehner's No. 2, Kevin McCarthy — to win re-election from his current central Florida...

On August 13 Florida League of Women Voters (FLWV) Gun Safety Committee chair Patti Brigham will hold a conference for leaders who oppose arming women and other law-abiding citizens on college campuses for self-defense. Brigham’s conference comes as Florida state senator Greg Evers (R-Baker) and representative Greg Steube (R-Sarasota) prepare to renew their push for women with concealed carry permits to be able to carry guns on college campuses for self-defense. Evers and Stuebe both offered bills that would have allowed women to arm themselves in 2015, and both bills were defeated by opposition from gun control groups geared toward...

Roughly 50 people lined up in front of Hobby Lobby’s new Totowa store Saturday to protest the company’s role in a recent Supreme Court decision that says the company can choose not to cover contraception for its employees through the Affordable Care Act.The Oklahoma City-based arts and crafts chain is owned by a Christian family that says it tries to run the business applying its religious beliefs. One of the parties in the decision by the high court, the family had argued that the Obamacare requirement that all contraception be covered violated a 1993 federal law that protects religious...

Catherine Stefani has an article up over at the SacBee talking about how she became the head of the Kaliforniastan chapter of Moms Demand Action… Its not much more than a shameless plug and link bait for the civilian disarmament cult, but I thought it was pretty interesting for a couple of reasons… one, I had never heard of Catherine Stefani before this and two, I thought it was incredibly interesting how she talks about how she became involved in MDA:

Before the 2000 presidential election, most Americans assumed the mechanics of elections functioned smoothly. The thirty-six day battle for the presidency demonstrated otherwise. Today, most Americans still assume the institutions, firms and foundations that fight about election law disputes are equally matched and similarly funded as between left and right. That is a dangerously incorrect assumption, especially with the 2012 election fast approaching. From an election administration perspective, the 2012 presidential election is already upon us. And the Left is fully engaged. Like so many other institutions, whether academia or the media, leftists dominate the field of election law, and...

The latest attack on voter ID is occurring in Minnesota, where on Tuesday, the state Supreme Court will hear a case filed by the League of Women Voters (LWV). In League of Women Voters Minnesota v. Ritchie, the LWV is trying to convince the court to remove a referendum question from the November ballot. Its argument is that voters won’t be able to understand the ballot question. This referendum was passed by the Minnesota legislature in April and would amend the state constitution to require all voters voting in person to “present valid government-issued photographic identification before receiving a ballot.”...

Madison -- The Court of Appeals declined to take up a Dane County case Wednesday that blocked the state's new law requiring people to show photo ID at the polls. The latest order is a further setback for those who support the voter ID law, and is another sign the law almost surely will remain halted for the May 8 primaries and June 5 recall elections. Dane County Circuit Judge David Flanagan temporarily enjoined the voter ID law last month, saying the Milwaukee branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and immigrant rights group Voces de...

A judge weighing one of three lawsuits challenging Wisconsin's new voter ID law said Thursday he needs more time to consider both sides' arguments before he will rule on the state's motion to dismiss the case. After listening to arguments from attorneys for the League of Women Voters, which is seeking to overturn the law, and for Gov. Scott Walker and the state elections board, Dane County Circuit Judge Richard Niess said he couldn't yet rule on the motion but would at a March 9 hearing. He also said he may rule on the merits of the case then. The...

A judge is scheduled to hear arguments this week about the constitutionality of Wisconsin's new voter photo identification law. Supporters argue the Republican-authored law will help curtail fraud. Opponents counter the law disenfranchises groups of people who likely don't have identification, such as the poor, minorities and the disabled. The League of Women Voters filed a lawsuit in Dane County against Gov. Scott Walker and state election officials challenging the law. The group argues the state constitution bars only children, felons and the mentally incompetent from voting and the Legislature improperly prohibited a new class of people — namely, those...

Madison - In approving one of the strongest photo ID requirements in the country for voters, GOP lawmakers and Gov. Scott Walker violated a few little-noted paragraphs of the state constitution - so say opponents of the law who are preparing a legal challenge to it. But Republicans dismissed that claim, saying that in writing the legislation earlier this year they took care not to violate the federal or state constitution. They said the current objections over the state's charter show photo ID opponents are recognizing the difficulties of a federal lawsuit over the law. A lawsuit being prepared by...

Priceless! Here is video of an Illinois crowd spontaneously rising to their feet to say the Pledge of Allegiance, even though the League of Women Voters’ Moderator had said they had no plan to do so. A man calls for a point of order to ask the moderator if they are going to say the Pledge, to which the moderator said, “No we are not.” As the moderator tried to explain why they would not be saying the Pledge – the crowd rose to their feet and began saying the Pledge! Republican Joe Walsh – candidate for Illinois’ 8th Congressional...

June 14, 2009Obama's Other Controversial ChurchBy Andrew Walden "This is a guy (former Weatherman terror-bomber Bill Ayers) who lives in my neighborhood ... the notion that somehow as a consequence of me knowing somebody who engaged in detestable acts 40 years ago - when I was 8 years old - somehow reflects on me and my values doesn't make much sense." -- Barack Obama on the Campaign trail, 2008 As President Obama prepared to commemorate D-Day, the Associated Press dug up old details and photos to write a warm fuzzy story about the WW2 service record of Obama's maternal grandfather...