News Clips

Karen Hobert Flynn, president of the progressive group Common Cause, said after the high court‘s string of conservative rulings on guns and abortion, Justice Jackson joining the court gives a “ray of hope” to the nation. “The Court is desperately in need of a boost,” she said.  “With the reputation of the Court in tatters, Justice Jackson’s swearing-in is a monumental step forward, and represents a ray of hope that our nation’s highest court may once again deliver equal justice under the law.”

“In a radical power grab, self-serving politicians want to defy our state’s highest court and impose illegal voting districts upon the people of North Carolina,” said Bob Phillips of Common Cause, North Carolina, which brought the lawsuit that overturned the GOP-drawn maps. “We will continue to stand up for the people of our state and nation as this case goes to the U.S. Supreme Court. We must stop this dangerous attack on our freedom to vote.”

Joanne Antoine, executive director of Common Cause Maryland, said Baker also faces another dilemma: If he withdraws, he would be required to return the matching funds he received. So far, he has received nearly $1 million from the state. Baker wants more officers hired to ‘stop the slaughter’ in Baltimore “That may be why he chose to suspend without shutting it down, because he would need to return that money,” said Antoine, whose group is a proponent of the state’s public financing program and has worked on legislation to strengthen it. Antoine said Baker ending his campaign and possibly endorsing another could be seen as a candidate being “given money and indirectly using their visibility and support to help someone who is not in the program. … I do think it’s unclear as it relates to endorsements and we urge against it.”

Kathay Feng, the national redistricting director at the good government group Common Cause, compared preclearance to the ability to prevent a repeat arson. “But unfortunately, with Shelby County, we have to allow a building to burn down before we can go and seek some kind of justice and by then the harm has already happened,” she said.

Candidates seeking more than one possible office at the same time face the additional burdens to “be very careful in their allocations,” said Beth Rotman, money in politics and ethics program director at Common Cause. “Here, that would be demonstrating in Illinois, and also federally, that the candidate is complying with two sets of rules at the same time. … You have a higher burden, because you can essentially make a mistake in either direction.” ... “Some agencies are better than others at actually taking a look at whether campaigns are complying,” Rotman said. “Campaigns have to be very vigilant. It’s not necessarily the case that anyone is doing anything wrong.”

"It is clear from the evidence made public by the January 6th Committee that Rep. Perry does not respect the will of the voters. No elected official should remain in office, if they do not respect the voters who put them there. We must not continue down this path," said Khalif Ali, Common Cause Pennsylvania executive director.