FTP-MD: Meet candidates and bolster political equality
Charlie Cooper
March 2, 2024
Meet the candidates
In the 117th Congress, the U.S. Senate came two votes shy of passing Rep. John Sarbanes' Freedom to Vote Act. Two senators who said they supported the bill refused to vote to change the filibuster rule. Now, candidates are running for the 119th Congress. This year, Maryland will elect a new U.S. Senator and three new members of Congress. We want to help voters learn what the candidates would do -- or not do -- to strengthen democracy and weaken the disproportionate influence of big money in our elections. We have developed a list of questions that you can ask candidates to gauge whether they will be active proponents of political equality and whether they will support concrete action in Congress. You can print out this list of questions and take it with you to a forum or keep it on your desk during an online forum. We will keep you apprised of events. Here are two:
- On Monday, March 4th, at
Towson library at 6:00 PM, the candidates
for the Democratic nomination for Maryland’s Second
Congressional District will take part in a forum sponsored by
Central Baltimore County Democratic Club and other County Democratic
clubs. (These are primary election candidates
for the seat being vacated by Dutch Ruppersberger.)
- David Trone (owner of Total Wine and current Democratic member of Congress from Maryland's 6th District) is running for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Ben Cardin. He is opening an office in Baltimore City Today, March 2, from 6-8 PM at 1001 N. Charles Street. Register here.
Don't forget to peruse your list of questions and keep it with you!
Supreme Court slow-walks Trump immunity case
Donald Trump claims that a former President has total immunity against any criminal acts he may have committed while in office unless the former President has been impeached and convicted by the Senate. Under this theory, President Biden could have Trump assassinated, be immune from prosecution while in office, and be immune from prosecution after leaving office unless convicted by the Senate. Trump's claim of immunity was rejected by U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan and then unanimously dismissed by a bi-partisan panel of three judges for the DC Circuit Court of Appeals.
The Supreme Court could have let the judgment of the DC Circuit stand, but, instead, it chose to give the case a full hearing and set oral argument for April 22. This will cause a serious delay in the federal criminal prosecution of Trump for obstructing an official proceeding, namely, the Congressional counting of electoral votes on January 6, 2021.
John Lewis Voting Rights Act re-introduced in U.S. Senate
Senators Dick Durbin (D, IL) and Raphael Warnock (D, GA) reintroduced the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. The Act would reverse the 2013 decision of the Supreme Court in Shelby County v. Holder. In that fateful decision the court held that discrimination by race had disappeared from the U.S. electoral system and that the pre-clearance provision that required states of the former Confederacy to submit proposed election rules changes to the U.S. Department of Justice for approval was itself an unconstitutional form of race discrimination. According to the League of Women Voters, 29 states have passed almost 100 laws restricting voting rights. The revisions proposed in the bill would establish new data-driven criteria for when to apply pre-clearance requirements.
As a young man, Lewis was beaten and arrested
for his voting rights organizing. He then served for several decades
in Congress.
This morning, the Brennan Center released a study which found that the racial turnout gap "has consistently grown since 2012 and is growing most quickly in parts of the country that were previously covered under Section 5 of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, which was suspended by the Supreme Court in its 2013 decision in Shelby County v. Holder." The authors state that "our primary models indicate that the white–Black turnout gap in these [covered] regions was about 5 percentage points greater than it would have been if the Voting Rights Act were still in full force, and the white–nonwhite gap was about 4 points higher."
Announcements
TODAY!
Mass Poor People's & Low-Wage Workers' Moral March to
State House Assembly in Annapolis
Start: Saturday,
March 02, 2024 11:00 AM
End: Saturday, March 02,
2024 2:00 PM
Lawyer's Mall, 100 State Cir, Annapolis, MD
21401
Host Contact Info: march...@marylandppc.org
Register
News
The Fulcrum: In Wyoming, "a majority of state House members voted for Joint House Resolution 0002, calling on Congress to propose a constitutional amendment to ensure transparency in election spending and allow states to regulate corporate, union and other political contributions." Unfortunately, the measure required a two-thirds majority to advance; however, the organizing work done among Republicans in Wyoming is encouraging.
GMOM and For the People -- Maryland teleconference
Meeting TBA
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Onward together,
Charlie Cooper
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Get Money Out - Maryland · Baltimore, MD 21209, United States
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