The fate of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, the single most effective law protecting the voting rights of minorities, could hinge on a case heard today in federal district court. Officials in Shelby County, Alabama, contend VRA’s Section 5 requirement is outdated and unconstitutional because it unfairly requires them to pre-clear with federal authorities all [...]
The national Democratic Party's selection of Charlotte for its 2012 Convention means President Obama has no intention of conceding the Southern states he won in 2008 (Virginia, Florida, North Carolina). The NC Republican Party quickly accepted the challenge with a YouTube video aimed at raising spirits (and some money) to make sure Obama and the [...]
Republicans in the US House, with support from Rep. Heath Shuler (D-NC) and few other Democrats, gleefully stabbed the presidential public financing system in the heart, draining its funds for other purposes. Rep. Walter Jones (R-NC) was the only Republican in the US House to agree that the program is broken but insist that it [...]
The Guardian gives a straightforward description of this weekend’s corporate conspiracy confab hosted by rightwingers David and Charles Koch: “Amid great secrecy, about 200 of America's wealthiest and most powerful individuals from the worlds of finance, big business and rightwing politics are expected to come together on Sunday in the sun-drenched California desert near Palm [...]
Facing South has another installment in its analysis of Republican proposals to require voters to show a photo ID each time they vote. This one focuses on the high costs of implementing a photo ID requirement, based on the fiscal notes prepared for legislation introduced in various states. The high cost for no gain is [...]
Court Wars: For people interested in following the politics of advancing an independent, yet accountable judicial system in the United States, we recommend you subscribe to GavelGrab. Recent entries range from the call for a judge to recuse herself in the Rahm Emanual residency dispute, to a review of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia’s speech to [...]
Duke Energy and Progress Energy are combining forces into one giant company, the largest electric utility in the nation. But all their cash flow and technological wizardry is still not enough to convince Wall Street to endorse building multiple nuclear power plants as the smartest energy future for America. Wall Street wants a no-risk guarantee, [...]
Facing South has an excellent summary of the meaning of the Supreme Court’s Citizens United case and its immediate impact in North Carolina's 2010 elections. On the one-year anniversary of the decision, Common Cause asked the US Justice Department to investigate conflicts of interest involving two members of the US Supreme Court who sided with the [...]
Kudos to the Independent Weekly for dissecting the octopus that is K & L Gates, the most powerful law firm “the Triangle has never heard of [and] one of the region’s most formidable and pervasive forces in development and politics.” Operatives with this global firm are behind dozens of projects in the Durham area and [...]
We’re coming up to the one year anniversary of the US Supreme Court’s fateful Citizens United v. FEC decision. The 5 to 4 decision on January 21, 2010, equated corporations and unions with people and granted them “free speech” rights to spend unlimited money to tell real people which candidates to elect or defeat. Public Citizen [...]