December, 04 2019, 11:00pm EDT

Common Cause Urges U.S. House Members to Pass Voting Rights Advancement Act
With a floor vote expected Friday, Common Cause and it's 1.2 million members are strongly urging every member of the U.S. House of Representatives to vote "yes" on the Voting Rights Advancement Act (HR 4). In a letter to House Members, Common Cause emphasized the critical importance of updating the protections of the Voting Rights Act after the landmark legislation was gutted by a highly controversial U.S. Supreme Court decision in Shelby County v.
WASHINGTON
With a floor vote expected Friday, Common Cause and it's 1.2 million members are strongly urging every member of the U.S. House of Representatives to vote "yes" on the Voting Rights Advancement Act (HR 4). In a letter to House Members, Common Cause emphasized the critical importance of updating the protections of the Voting Rights Act after the landmark legislation was gutted by a highly controversial U.S. Supreme Court decision in Shelby County v. Holder.
"Efforts to suppress the vote of historically underrepresented communities have skyrocketed in the wake of the Supreme Court's Shelby decision and it is critical to pass the Voting Rights Advancement Act to safeguard every American's right to vote," said Sylvia Albert, director of voting and elections at Common Cause. "The tactics of vote suppression may have changed since the dark days of the Jim Crow South but the results are the same - those in power are gaming the system to determine who votes and who doesn't. When states and municipalities repeatedly abuse the system to suppress the vote, they must be held accountable and the Voting Right Advancement Act would do just that."
"We are strongly urging House Member to pass this vitally important legislation and are continuing our efforts to help move companion legislation in the Senate," said Aaron Scherb, Common Cause's director of legislative affairs. "Common Cause has informed lawmakers that we will key-vote final passage of the Voting Rights Advancement Act, in our Democracy Scorecard, which we send to our 1.2 million members. The right to vote is simply too important not to safeguard by passing the Voting Rights Advancement Act.
The letter notes that since the Shelby decision there has been a significant spike in the use of voter purges, strict voter ID, signature mismatch requirements, poll closures, intimidation, disinformation, and numerous other tactics to try to suppress eligible voters, who are frequently from communities of color.
The letter emphasizes that the Voting Rights Act, has been reauthorized five times by Congress with strong bipartisan congressional support and the signatures of five Republican presidents. The Voting Rights Advancement Act would ensure that communities of color, service members returning from overseas, and Americans of all stripes can exercise their most fundamental right to vote.
Two Common Cause experts testified at several of the more than one-dozen congressional hearings conducted around the country to compile a substantial legislative record and demonstrate the need for a robust and modernized Voting Rights Act to stop these voter suppression tactics once and for all.
Rep. Terri Sewell (D-AL) deserves credit for championing the Voting Rights Advancement Act, marshaling support, and seeing it through to a vote.
To read the letter, click here.
Common Cause is a nonpartisan, grassroots organization dedicated to upholding the core values of American democracy. We work to create open, honest, and accountable government that serves the public interest; promote equal rights, opportunity, and representation for all; and empower all people to make their voices heard in the political process.
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Trump Demands Recusal of Judge Chutkan in Federal Jan. 6 Case for 'Doing Her Job'
Legal experts dismissed the move, which comes after the judge rejected an attempt by the GOP ex-president and current presidential candidate to delay the trial until 2026, after the 2024 election.
Sep 11, 2023
Former U.S. President Donald Trump's legal team on Monday asked the judge overseeing his federal election interference case—stemming from his efforts to overturn the 2020 results and him provoking the January 6, 2021 insurrection—to recuse herself, citing comments she made during cases involving some of his supporters who stormed the Capitol.
"The recusal motion was a risky gambit by Mr. Trump's legal team given that the judge, Tanya S. Chutkan, will have the initial say about whether or not to grant it," The New York Timesnoted. "Mr. Trump's lawyers have tried this strategy before, attempting—and failing—to have the judge overseeing his state felony trial in Manhattan step aside."
Along with those two cases, Trump faces an election interference case in Georgia and second federal case that, like the one overseen by Chutkan, is spearheaded by Special Counsel Jack Smith due to his presidential campaign. Trump remains the front-runner in the GOP's 2024 primary race despite being indicted four times this year.
A grand jury indicted Trump in the federal election case early last month, hitting him with what one watchdog group called his "most significant charges yet." His attorneys pushed for a 2026 trial—well after next year's election—but Chutkan, an appointee of former President Barack Obama who was randomly assigned to the case, scheduled it for March 4, 2024.
"Judge Chutkan has, in connection with other cases, suggested that President Trump should be prosecuted and imprisoned. Such statements, made before this case began and without due process, are inherently disqualifying," Trump's lawyers argued in the Monday motion. "Although Judge Chutkan may genuinely intend to give President Trump a fair trial—and may believe that she can do so—her public statements unavoidably taint these proceedings, regardless of outcome."
The motion points out that during a December 2021 hearing for Robert Palmer, Chutkan said: "Mr. Palmer—you have made a very good point, one that has been made before—that the people who exhorted you and encouraged you and rallied you to go and take action and to fight have not been charged... So you have a point, that the people who may be the people who planned this and funded it and encouraged it haven’t been charged, but that’s not a reason for you to get a lower sentence."
The filing adds that during an October 2022, the judge told another defendant, Christine Priola:
This was nothing less than an attempt to violently overthrow the government, the legally, lawfully, peacefully elected government by individuals who were mad that their guy lost. I see the videotapes. I see the footage of the flags and the signs that people were carrying and the hats they were wearing and the garb. And the people who mobbed that Capitol were there in fealty, in loyalty, to one man—not to the Constitution, of which most of the people who come before me seem woefully ignorant; not to the ideals of this country; and not to the principles of democracy. It's a blind loyalty to one person who, by the way, remains free to this day.
Responding to Trump's motion on social media, University of Alabama law professor Joyce Vance, who is also an NBC News and MSNBC legal analyst, said Monday that it is "unsurprising that he would do this" but it "seems unlikely to succeed."
"The case for refusing Judge [Aileen] Cannon in Florida would be far stronger and so far, the [government] has not chosen to bring it," Vance added of the Trump appointee overseeing the other federal case, which involves classified documents.
Stephen Gillers, a legal ethics professor at New York University School of Law, reached a similar conclusion.
"I understand why Trump would like another judge, and I understand why Trump would like another venue," Gillers told The Washington Post, "but nothing I've heard—including the fact that Judge Chutkan has sentenced harshly other January 6 defendants—would warrant a recusal."
"Things such as what is said or done within the four corners of a case before her as a judge cannot be a basis for recusal because she's doing her job," he continued. "That's what judges do."
Some legal scholars and advocacy groups argue that regardless of the results of the four criminal cases, the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution disqualifies Trump from holding office again because he incited an insurrection. A watchdog and lawyers for six Republican and unaffiliated Colorado voters filed a related lawsuit last week.
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400+ Actions to End Fossil Fuels Planned Around the World for Sept. 15-17
"When we the people use our collective power we can win," said one campaigner.
Sep 11, 2023
"September 15-17, 2023. Everywhere."
Those are the dates and location of the international mobilization against fossil fuels set to take place this coming weekend, and the last word is hardly an exaggeration as organizers with the Global Fight to End Fossil Fuels report that more than 400 actions, marches, rallies, and other events have already been registered around the world.
More than 780 organizations have endorsed the day of action—up from 500 less than a week ago—and millions of participants are expected to rally from Cape Town, South Africa to Manila, Philippines and Lahore, Pakistan, as well as in dozens of cities and towns across the United States, the largest emitter of greenhouse gases in history.
The protests are scheduled just before the United Nations Climate Ambition Summit, taking place on September 20 in New York, where groups including the NAACP, Sierra Club, and Sunrise Movement are supporting the March to End Fossil Fuels on September 17.
More than 10,000 people are expected to march in New York to demand that U.S. President Joe Biden end federal approvals for new fossil fuel projects like the Willow drilling project in Alaska and phase out oil and gas drilling in federal lands and waters; declare a climate emergency to unlock resources to accelerate the transition to renewable energy; and provide a just transition that creates millions of green jobs while supporting people who have worked in the fossil fuel industry.
"President Biden is in an unparalleled position to lead the world toward cleaner, less polluting energy options and eliminate the dependence on dangerous fossil fuels," said organizers of the New York march. "If he takes action, he will protect our health, boost our economy, and tackle the climate crisis head-on."
The March to End Fossil Fuels is backed by advocates including author Naomi Klein, 350.org co-founder Bill McKibben, actor and Third Act leader Jane Fonda, and lawmakers including U.S. Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.).
On Monday, scientists including Lucky Tran of the March for Science and biologist Sandra Steingraber announced that 300 climate experts had signed their letter to Biden reminding him that "a broad scientific consensus exists" that fossil fuel extraction must be drawn down immediately to keep global heating below 1.5°C.
The scientists plan to release the letter with all signatures ahead of Sunday's march.
The global mobilization—and the Climate Ambition Summit, where leaders of countries that emit the most heat-trapping gases will be expected to present updated plans to reduce their emissions and phase out fossil fuels—comes after a summer in the Northern Hemisphere in which numerous temperature records were broken.
As Common Dreamsreported last week, U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres warned that "climate breakdown has begun" when U.S. scientists found the summer was the hottest on record. Scientists have said that extreme weather events such as wildfires in Canada and heatwaves in the U.S. and Europe in recent months would not have happened without human-caused planetary heating.
Tasneem Essop, executive director of Climate Action Network, emphasized that popular uprisings against the fossil fuel industry and the politicians that continue to support it have found success, such as the campaign that pushed Ecuadorians to vote against drilling in the Yasunà National Park in the Amazon last month.
"July 2023 was the hottest month in recorded climate history," said Essop. "The unparalleled, deadly climate disasters sweeping the world seem to leave polluters unfazed. Historical emitters like Norway, the U.K., and the USA are announcing new fossil fuel projects even as floods, fires, and heatwaves take over our lives. We take inspiration from recent victories in the Yasunà region with the referendum to stop oil drilling."
"When we the people use our collective power we can win," Essop added. "Let our resistance against fossil fuels in September send a loud message to the fossil fuel industry and their supporters that their time is up."
Outside of the U.S., more than 3,000 people are expected to join the Pakistan Climate March in the southern Sidh province; 100,000 are expected to join a march in Abuja, Nigeria; and 3,000 are expected to march near Malacañang Palace in Manila.
"We demand a phaseout of fossil fuels now," said Farooq Tariq, secretary-general of Kissan Rabita Committee in Pakistan. "The fossil fuel industry and its supporters bear responsibility for the climate crisis and perpetuate a predatory and destructive economic system that harms both people and the planet."
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US Has Faced a Record 23 Billion-Dollar Extreme Weather Disasters in 2023
One expert said the events "affirm what millions of people around the country already know—the climate crisis is a deadly and expensive reality today."
Sep 11, 2023
As a historically hot summer nears its end, U.S. government scientists on Monday announced that the nation endured 23 separate weather and climate disasters that caused at least $1 billion in damage from January to August—setting a new annual record with four months of the year left.
The previous record was set in 2020, with a year-end total of 22. This year's billion-dollar disasters so far include 18 severe storms, two flooding events, one tropical cyclone, one wildfire, and one winter storm. The final figure for 2023 could rise, not only because it's just September, but also because some calculations still need to be finalized, including for Tropical Storm Hilary and a Southern and Midwest drought.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said that this year's events collectively "caused 253 direct and indirect fatalities and produced more than $57.6 billion in damages." Since the federal agency began tracking billion-dollar disasters in 1980, there have been 371 such events, with the total cost topping $2.615 trillion.
Additions to this year's total since NOAA's previous update a month ago include the deadliest U.S. wildfire in over a century, which devastated the Hawaiian island of Maui in early August, and Hurricane Idalia, which made landfall in Florida late last month.
Responding to the news from NOAA, Rachel Cleetus, policy director and lead economist at the Union of Concerned Scientists' Climate and Energy Program, said that "these record-breaking numbers, during a year that is on track to be one of the hottest ever, are sobering and the latest confirmation of a worsening trend in costly disasters, many of which bear the undeniable fingerprints of climate change."
"They affirm what millions of people around the country already know—the climate crisis is a deadly and expensive reality today," Cleetus continued. "Our choices about where and how we build and develop are also putting more people and property in harm's way. Without sharp cuts to heat-trapping emissions and robust investments in climate resilience, the human and economic toll of these kinds of disasters will mount in years to come. The year is far from over, with the busiest part of the hurricane season just getting underway, making it likely that these numbers will climb further."
Along with the disaster figure, NOAA announced that the United States saw its ninth-warmest August in the 129-year record. For a few states—Florida, Louisiana, and Mississippi—it was the hottest August recorded. It was also Texas' second-hottest and Alaska's third-hottest August.
This year also featured the nation's 15th-hottest meteorological summer—or June through August—on record, with Louisiana enduring its warmest summer and Florida and Texas seeing their second-warmest summers. Florida, Louisiana, and Mississippi also all endured their hottest January-August period, while it was the second-warmest in Alabama, Delaware, Georgia, Maryland, and Massachusetts.
NOAA's findings follow revelations last week that at the global level, this summer has been the hottest ever recorded and in 2022, greenhouse gas concentrations, sea level, and ocean heat content hit record highs.
As Cleetus noted, they also follow a Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) request for "Congress to urgently allocate additional money for disaster aid as it's slated to run out of funds this month."
"This kind of a dire situation is likely to happen year after year as climate change worsens," she warned. "It's imperative that U.S. policymakers invest much more in getting out ahead of disasters before they strike rather than forcing communities to just pick up the pieces after the fact. While recent legislation like the Inflation Reduction Act and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act include some funding for climate resilience, it's grossly insufficient given the scale of the national challenge we face."
"Congress and the Biden administration also must ensure funds are reaching the communities disproportionately affected by climate harms, including low-income communities and communities of color," she added. "The science is clear that adapting to runaway climate change is an impossible feat so we must also sharply curtail the use of fossil fuels that are driving the climate crisis."
The NOAA report and response come ahead of the United Nations Climate Action Summit in New York City beginning September 20 as well as COP28, the next U.N. conference for parties to the Paris agreement, which is set to be hosted by the United Arab Emirates this November.
Recent disasters and extreme heat leading up to both summits have fueled demands for more ambitious efforts from the international community—but particularly rich countries that have largely created the climate emergency—to ditch oil and gas. With eyes on the NYC meeting, activists are planning a September 17 March to End Fossil Fuels in the city and hundreds of related events across the United States.
The NYC march's demands for U.S. President Joe Biden are to stop federal approvals for new fossil fuel projects and repeal permits for "climate bombs"; phase out oil and gas drilling on public lands and waters; declare a climate emergency; and provide a just transition.
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