Trump Administration/Executive Ethics

Today, Common Cause filed an amicus brief in the Supreme Court of the United States urging the court to decide Donald J. Trump v. United States expeditiously in order to avoid perceptions of political bias and to allow a lower court trial of the former president on conspiracy and corruption charges to be held before the November presidential election.

In a statement, Aly Belknap, executive director of the nonprofit Colorado Common Cause, which filed several amicus, or friend-of-the-court, briefs in support of the Colorado plaintiffs, called the ruling “a dark day for our democracy.” “Donald Trump lied, cheated, and unleashed violence when the election did not go his way, and his ongoing incitement has led to an unprecedented rise in attacks and death threats against election workers, judges, and other public servants,” Belknap said. “By refusing to hold Trump accountable and allowing him to skirt around the pillars of our Constitution, SCOTUS has greenlit this behavior for future public officials.”

"For over 200 years, all but one of our leaders have abided by the Constitution and practiced the peaceful transfer of power."

"There must be consequences for overturning the will of the voters, both to prevent these schemes from being attempted in the future and to ensure accountability to those responsible for future attempts," added Aly Belknap of Colorado Common Cause.

Today, a New York judge rejected Donald Trump’s attempt to have criminal charges against him thrown out for hush money payments made to Stormy Daniels to keep their affair secret on the eve of the 2016 presidential election. The trial will begin six years after Common Cause filed complaints related to the payments with the Justice Department and the Federal Election Commission. Jury selection is scheduled to begin on March 25.

PHOENIX — Arizona lawmakers have just reached a resolution on a clean fix to the ballot recount issue after months of tense negotiations. The fix, HB2785, corrects a massive problem caused by prior legislation by allowing adequate time for election officials to tally votes after elections conclude.