Published May 29, 2009 @ 09:14AM PT

Speaker Series - Washington, DC (April 30, 2009) April 30th marked the end of President Obama's first 100 days in office.  As the Obama Administration and Congress continue to work on an ambitious domestic agenda, many nonprofits and foundations want a seat at the policy table to ensure their constituents' voices are heard during this critical time.  In recognition of these historic first 100 days, Alliance for Justice hosted a Speaker Series event featuring attorneys Michael Trister and Holly Schadler (Lichtman, Trister & Ross, PLLC) discussing how nonprofits may work with the new administration while staying within the legal boundaries of federal tax and election law. Now, in an effort to include advocates from outside of the Washington, DC are... Read More

Published May 27, 2009 @ 07:54AM PT

The Coalition for Constitutional Values, a national coalition of the nation's leading nonprofit and advocacy organizations, announced today that it will begin airing "Justice" a new 30-second television spot that will run on national network news and cable news starting today. The Coalition for Constitutional Values, whose members represent millions of Americans, believes it is important that the American people know about the qualities of their Supreme Court justices. The new spot is part of a broader public education campaign launched by the Coalition for Constitutional Values, co-chaired by the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, Alliance for Justice and People for the American Way. The Coalition hopes the spot will introduce the American public to Judge Sotomayor who has experie... Read More

Published May 15, 2009 @ 08:53AM PT

Question: May 501(c)(3) public charities influence the confirmation of Supreme Court nominees? Answer: Yes! The Internal Revenue Service has recognized that influencing the confirmation of federal judges is exactly like influencing any other legislative vote through lobbying. "Because the Senate's action of advice and consent on a judicial nomination is an action with respect to a resolution or similar item, the Senate's confirmation vote constitutes a vote on legislation." (Notice 88-76, 1988-2 C.B. 392.) Likewise, Senate actions to confirm cabinet level and other executive branch nominations are also considered legislative actions. Attempts by a 501(c)(3) public charity to influence the confirmation of executive branch nominees would similarly fall under the IRS definition of lobbyi... Read More

Published May 15, 2009 @ 08:43AM PT

Cross post from Nan Aron on Huffington Post You may have heard that Republicans in the U.S. Senate are blocking the nomination of Dawn Johnsen to head the Office of Legal Counsel in the Justice Department, and you may be wondering, "So what?" This actually matters. A lot. The person who heads that office tells the executive branch of government which actions it is considering are legal and constitutional and which infringe on such basic rights as freedom of speech, assembly, religion, and privacy. This is the job that Jay Bybee held during the Bush administration when he wrote his infamous memo providing legal cover for illegal torture and wiretapping without warrants. President Obama has nominated Dawn Johnsen to restore integrity to the office. She served there for five years u... Read More

Published May 15, 2009 @ 08:42AM PT

Thanks to everyone who attended our event The Bybee Question: Is Impeachment Appropriate? A panel of legal experts and scholars convened at the National Press Club to discuss the potential impeachment of Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Jay Bybee for his role in authoring and authorizing torture memos during his tenure as head of the Department of Justice's Office of Legal Counsel. If you missed the event, footage is available here. AfterDowningStreet.org posted a great summary of the event, and both Harper's Magazine and Think Progress provided coverage of yesterday's Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, "What Went Wrong: Torture and the Office of Legal Counsel in the Bush Administration" in addition to our event. Read More

Published March 30, 2007 @ 08:22AM PT

If an insurance plan covers Rogaine for cosmetic male hair loss, isn’t it only fair that it should cover prescription birth control, which allows women to decide when and if they want to face the serious health and lifestyle implications of pregnancy? Union Pacific Railroad doesn’t think so. The company’s insurance plan covers prescription drugs like Viagra and Rogaine affecting men’s sexual health and quality of life. Yet it does not cover prescription contraceptives that allow women to enjoy sex while deferring pregnancy. Retail costs for prescription oral contraceptives run approximately $360 per year. So without coverage, women who are struggling to make ends meet may be forced to turn to less reliable methods of contraception and stand a greater chance of ge... Read More

Published February 05, 2007 @ 10:18AM PT

This week the 110th Senate unanimously confirmed five nominees to seats on the federal district courts. New Senate Judiciary Chair Patrick Leahy issued a statement in which he pointed out how quickly the new Senate was moving on judicial nominations. He also commended President Bush for not resubmitting the nominations of several controversial nominees, while urging the president to renominate three other district court nominees who have been held up by Senator Sam Brownback’s (R-KS) ridiculous unease about Janet Neff: "I do not know why the President has not chosen to renominate Judge Neff or the other two Western District nominees. But the approach to nominations we saw in the last Congress, of using nominations to score political points rather than filling vacancies and admini... Read More