RNLA's blog featured a wide variety of topics in 2023, and we wanted to highlight some of the top posts here. Part One focused on RNLA's top blogs on attacks on the rule of law from the radical left. Part Two focuses on efforts by Republicans to fight back against the politicization and federalization of our elections. We hope you enjoy this recap of some of RNLA's top blog posts of 2023!
5. Klobuchar AGAIN Tries to Restrict Free Speech (September 28, 2023)
Senator Amy Klobuchar never seems to give up on her efforts to restrict political speech. Even after her failed efforts at enacting regulations for “Honest Ads” and last Congress’ S. 1 effort (nicknamed the “Corrupt Politicians Act”), the Senate Rules Chair is back with a new effort to restrict the speech of non-Democrats. This time, it is the Protect Elections from Deceptive AI Act (S. 2770). As Senator Bill Hagerty pointed out at a Senate Rules hearing earlier this week:
.@SenatorHagerty exposes that @amyklobuchar is trying to regulate AI, even though we don't even have anything close to an agreed on definition of AI.
— RNLA ⚖️ (@TheRepLawyer) September 27, 2023
The lack of a definition of artificial intelligence (AI) in this legislation is extremely troubling for free speech. S. 2770 would give un-elected, un-appointed career staff in the FEC’s Office of General Counsel initial authority to make recommendations to the Commission on whether AI-generated content is “materially deceptive.”
Rules Chair Klobuchar is using the fear of AI to justify restricting speech.
Read the entire blog post here!
4. Ranked-Choice Voting Would Be Catastrophic for U.S. Elections (January 25, 2023)
Beyond the obvious administrative issues RCV causes, why is it so bad on principal? The Lawyers Democracy Fund explained:
RCV clearly violates the one-person, one-vote principle that the Supreme Court has declared is enshrined in the Constitution. RCV allows some voters to cast multiple votes, while some only cast one vote.
RCV also creates problems that do not exist under non-RCV election systems such as ballot exhaustion. Ballot exhaustion is when a voter does not select more than one or rank all candidates in a ranked choice election. Their ballots are not counted in the subsequent rounds and they are effectively disenfranchised.
RCV does not increase participation. In fact, it serves as voter suppression by sowing confusion and hurting voter confidence. A post-election poll in Maine, the first place to use RCV in a federal election, found that confusion over RCV was the number one reason voters in one party did not vote in the general election. A nationwide poll in November 2019 found that 48% of voters opposed RCV and 21% were not sure whether they would support it.
Read the entire blog post here!
3. House Admin Conducts Important Oversight of Federal Election Commission (September 21, 2023)
During his opening statement, FEC Vice Chair Sean Cooksey laid out one of the greatest challenges the commission has faced in recent years—working through a backlog of cases created as a result of Democrats slowing the process of filling vacant spots on the Commission, which requires a quorum to operate.
Commissioner Allen Dickerson noted "Congress’s consistent failure to update the law to respect judicial precedent" has caused great confusion over how to apply campaign finance law, and ultimately, has affected the ability of Americans to exercise their First Amendment rights.
Most importantly, Commissioner Trey Trainor focused his remarks on how the FEC's procedures and jurisdiction have been weaponized and threaten the rights of Americans engaged in campaign activity.
Read the entire blog post here!
2. Democrats Balk at Bipartisan Election Oversight (March 28, 2023)
On Tuesday, hearings were held by the Committee on House Administration and the Senate Rules Committee to discuss the current state of our elections. While the hearings covered different angles of the issue, one common theme emerged: Republicans are committed to finding solutions to the most pressing election integrity issues, while Democrats balk at those solutions.
The House Administration hearing focused on the total breakdown of Luzerne County, Pennsylvania's elections on Election Day 2022. . .
Despite these issues, the Luzerne County Board of Elections turned over their investigation into the failures to the local district attorney and ultimately certified the election. Since then, no action has been taken in response to the disenfranchisement experienced by the voters whose votes were not counted.
Read the entire blog post here!
1. Introduction of American Confidence in Elections Act Announced in Atlanta (July 10, 2023)
RNLA is proud to support this important legislation. In a letter to Chairman Steil and Ranking Member Joe Morelle, RNLA leadership wrote:
The ACE Act provides a stark contrast to the election legislation that dominated the last two Congresses, H.R. 1 and H.R. 4. As RNLA wrote in a letter in opposition to H.R. 1 in 2019: “this legislation, far from protecting the people, would protect the interests of established politicians and lawyers by vastly expanding the federal government’s power over elections, regulating political speech, and creating new rights of action that would clog the court system.”
In comparison, the ACE Act promotes confidence in elections by increasing transparency, clarifying the limited role of the federal government in election administration, and promoting the freedom of Americans to express political viewpoints.
Read RNLA's letter in its entirety here.
Read the entire blog post here!