Democracy Wire

This week: Keystone pipeline lobbying, redistricting, Udall amendment, and the People’s Pledge

Recommended reading from Common Cause

The Supreme Court is supposed to protect everyone’s rights, interpreting our laws so that each person is valued equally. But in Hobby Lobby and other corporate cases, the Court seems to be granting special rights and privileges to corporations.

Common Cause Maryland hosted a birthday party Thursday for Elbridge Gerry, widely credited as the first politician to perfect the dark art of manipulating legislative lines for partisan purposes. Gerry, a former Vice President and Massachusetts governor, signed into law oddly shaped districts meant to solidify his party’s majority in the legislature while he was governor. The Boston Gazette drew a political cartoon in 1812 comparing one of the districts to a salamander and naming the district a “gerrymander.”

An Alabama attorney general's opinion highlights the continuing need for the Voting Rights Act

When the Federal Communications Commission’s website crashed – yet again, on Tuesday – the last day to file Net Neutrality comments, a pair of Common Cause interns crossed DC in a thunderstorm to turn in hard copies of thousands of comments from members and activists.