Media Center

Today, Common Cause urged the House and Senate Judiciary Committees to call Justice Clarence Thomas as a witness in hearings to examine Supreme Court ethics in the wake of the latest scandal to engulf the nation’s highest court. Recent reporting by ProPublica revealed that for more than two decades Justice Thomas failed to report luxury gifts and vacations he received from billionaire Republican donor Harlan Crow. 

“Senate treatment of this nomination has been, from beginning to end, sad, shoddy, and shameful.  And its treatment of Ms. Sohn a despicable dereliction of duty and honor.  A win for big-spending special interests, to be sure, but a tragic loss for the common good. We are disappointed that Ms. Sohn will be unable to serve as FCC Commissioner. She is a public interest champion who has spent her entire career advocating for policies that make broadband more affordable and accessible, defending an open internet, and promoting independent and diverse voices in our media ecosystem. Ms. Sohn would have served as a critical voice on several initiatives before the FCC including restoring net neutrality, prohibiting digital discrimination, and combating media consolidation." - former FCC chair Michael Copps

The American people deserve to see Donald Trump’s tax returns. Every other modern American President and every other major party nominee has disclosed their returns prior to Donald Trump. In light of numerous federal and state investigations of the former president’s finances, and convictions of multiple Trump Organization employees, the documents likely contain important information relevant to the public trust and must be made public.  

Common Cause is urging every member of the U.S. Senate to vote to begin debate on the DISCLOSE Act later this week when the Senate considers the legislation to bring transparency to the secret money groups spending hundreds of millions of dollars to influence our elections. The letter emphasizes that Americans overwhelmingly support legislation to eliminate secret money and cites polling showing that 74% of voters–including strong majorities of Republicans, Independents, and Democrats–favor legislative provisions to provide new disclosure requirements like the DISCLOSE Act.

Common Cause today released initial results of its Our Democracy 2022 candidate questionnaire in the leadup to the first election since January 6th. With two months to go before Election Day, more than 100 candidates for Congress, including in certain swing House and Senate races, responded on how they promise to defend and strengthen our democracy.