FEDERAL COURT ENJOINS MD LAW. MDDC:
“The 2016 election exposed alarming new vulnerabilities in this country’s democratic processes. While there is no denying that states have a strong interest in countering newly emerging threats to their elections, the approaches they choose to take must not encroach on First Amendment freedoms that are the hallmark of our nation. Maryland’s statute appears to overstep these bounds. While I have no cause to block its enforcement wholesale, Plaintiffs have persuaded me that Md. Code Ann., Elec. Law S 13-405, which includes both the publication requirement and state inspection requirement, is most likely unconstitutional as it applies to these Plaintiffs.”
FEC SHUTDOWN. PI. “The FEC’s shutdown plan indicates that the agency has furloughed about 90 percent of its roughly 300-member workforce.”
HR 1 INCLUDES NEW FEC AND MORE. HR 1. A section-by-section summary is here.
WARREN: EXPLORING OR IN? CBS. “Elizabeth Warren may technically be in the ‘exploratory’ phase of a presidential campaign, but her message during her first solo swing through Iowa was clear: ‘I’m in this fight.'”
TWEET ON CAMPAIGN FINANCE. NBC. “It is true that some of the figures who oppose Trump were involved in campaign finance violations that resulted in civil cases. The Obama campaign case falls into the category of civil cases.”
NO CORRUPTION. USAT. “When third parties or ‘fixers’ get rid of a problem for a candidate and that money helps a candidate get elected, that official is now vulnerable to bribery and influence. This is and always should be considered a big deal.”
$10 MILLION BET. NJ. “A San Francisco lawyer, civil rights activist and former Stanford University classmate of U.S. Sen. Cory Booker is setting up a super political action committee and plans to raise at least $10 million to support the New Jersey Democrat if he runs for president.”
ID: PASS REFORM. MV. “One of the top orders of business should be campaign finance reform. The groundwork has been laid, and we expect legislators to make quick work of the task at hand.”
HAVE A GOOD DAY.