(David Keating, Center for Competitive Politics) – The Center for Competitive Politics (CCP) helped to win three significant victories for your free speech rights in the month of April.
- We won our largest attorney's fee award ever: $220,000.
Receiving this check from Colorado was the final chapter in the case Coalition for Secular Government (CSG) v. Williams. We won an important victory for donor privacy and simplifying campaign finance law. Best of all, we won the appeal before three Obama judges.
My favorite quote from the district court decision was this: “The internet is the new soapbox; it is the new town square. CSG's … paper is Tom Paine's pamphlet. It is the quintessence of political speech.”
As a result of our win, the Colorado legislature and governor amended the law, freeing small groups from filing any campaign finance reports.
We always ask for fees after a win. It makes your support go further and demonstrates to lawmakers the economic and political cost of violating the First Amendment.
You can read more about the case on our website here.
- New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez vetoed a bill that would have violated donor privacy and free speech rights.
CCP published a thorough analysis of the harmful effects of this bill. CCP Chairman Brad Smith wrote a great op-ed in the Albuquerque Journal showing how the bill would hurt speech rights and charities. Governor Martinez echoed his arguments in her veto message. This shows CCP's positive impact on this debate. Click here to read Brad's op-ed.
- Neil Gorsuch was sworn into the Supreme Court.
Prior to and after his nomination, CCP published a total of seven reports on his opinions on free speech cases as an appeals court judge, and we were very impressed. He applies rigorous scrutiny in First Amendment speech cases. His elevation to the Supreme Court may allow us to take on more aggressive cases to support free speech.
Thank you for your steadfast support of the Center for Competitive Politics, which made these achievements possible. Please help us continue to vindicate your free speech rights by clicking here to make a donation or by contacting CCP Director of Development Alex Kroll at (703) 894-6832.
Thank you for your continued support as CCP fights for your First Amendment speech rights.
David Keating is president of Center for Competitive Politics.
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