Government Accountability
Common Cause is dedicated to making government open and accountable. Our founder, John Gardner, said "We want public officials to have literally millions of American citizens looking over their shoulders at every move they make." Since we first started "looking over shoulders" in 1970, Common Cause and our activists have been at the forefront of ensuring that government officials are acting in the public interest, not for their own personal benefit or for the benefit of powerful and influential special interest.
Common Cause has worked to shine a bright light on public officials and lobbyists who prefer to work behind closed doors and to insist that government officials are held to the highest standards of conduct.
Supreme Conflict
In Congress, at the Supreme Court and at the Department of Justice, Common Cause is pressing for new laws and procedures to make Supreme Court justices live by the same code of ethics that covers other federal judges. While federal law sets broad ethical guidelines for judges, the federal judiciary's Code of Ethics and the specific rules it includes for most other judges do not apply to the Supreme Court. As a result, the justices seem to have an ethical immunity that Common Cause believes is unhealthy for our system of justice.
Whistleblower Protection
Honest insiders who risk their careers to blow the whistle on wrongdoing are true heroes of democracy. We are working to strengthen protections for whistleblowers and help people feel safe coming forward with information that protects the public from waste, fraud, and abuse.
Fix the Filibuster
The Senate’s filibuster rule was designed to encourage full and careful debate, preventing the majority from steamrolling bills into law. In practice, the rule allows a minority – just 41 of the 100 senators -- to stifle debate, not just slowing down the majority but blocking it altogether.
For most of our history, the Senate minority – Republican or Democratic – used the filibuster sparingly. But the filibuster is increasingly used by the minority was able to block action, and even debate.
Rule of Law
Over the past decade, we've endured repeated abuses of power by all branches of our government. Time after time, we've watched elected officials fail to stand up for what's right. We've seen the very symbols of our democracy tarnished, as our nation's reputation suffers at home and abroad because of these abuses. Common Cause is working to end the abuse of Presidential signing statements, ensuring that these signing statements aren't abused to undermine the intent of the law just signed.
