Media Center

Americans expect and deserve a President who respects the rule of law, not one who abuses his power to undermine lawful convictions and attempts to whitewash his own corrupt presidency. With tonight’s pardons and commutations, President Trump has once again gravely abused the power of the presidency. Instead of granting pardons as an act of clemency for those who regret their crimes, he is engaged in an effort to hide his own malfeasance by undermining the Russia probe and other political corruption issues. This is a reprehensible abuse of the pardon power, and Congress should immediately investigate. It is also clear that Congress must address abuses of the pardon power and hold President Trump and any future Presidents who abuse the power of the pardon accountable. We urge swift passage of the Protecting Our Democracy Act and other reforms to reinforce that the President is not above the law.

“Common Cause believes that the Supreme Court must act before the dagger is in the heart of our Constitution. The Administration has made clear its intention to erase millions of people from the census and has engaged in multiple steps to advance its plot to sabotage the Census count,” said Kathay Feng, Common Cause National Redistricting Director. “We are counting on the Supreme Court to protect our most vulnerable families and our constitution.” 

Today, Common Cause called on General Services Administration (GSA) Administrator Emily W. Murphy to uphold her duty and comply with the Presidential Transition Act by immediately ascertaining President-Elect Joe Biden and Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris as stewards of the incoming administration. The letter to Administrator Murphy emphasized that a peaceful and orderly transition of power is vitally important to national security, to public health during the COVID-19 pandemic, and to our democracy. The Act defines the President-Elect and Vice President-Elect as the “apparent successful candidates for the office of President and Vice President, respectively, as ascertained by the Administrator following the general elections.”

Today, a third federal court blocked the Trump administration’s attempt to omit undocumented immigrants from the census numbers for the apportionment of seats in the U.S. House of Representatives. The U.S. District for the District of Maryland, in Useche v. Trump, ruled that President Trump’s memorandum ordering this unprecedented change  violates U.S. statutes governing the census and apportionment.

Today, Common Cause and the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, called on Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey to suspend the Twitter account of President Donald Trump for his repeated violations of Twitter’s Civic Integrity Policy by spreading disinformation about the 2020 Election to millions of Twitter users online. The letter points to President Trump’s repeated attempts to disrupt the proper counting of ballots, undermine the democratic process, and stir unrest through his tweets.

In our democracy every vote counts and every vote must be counted. The will of the people is reflected in how we cast our ballots. Politicians do not get to decide whose votes will count and whose votes won’t count. We choose our politicians, they do not choose us.