Shell Oil sues environmental organizations for speaking the truth #boycottshell

Stop Shell's Strong-arm Tactics. Donate today. Dear Ray, Shell Oil just sued the Center for Biological Diversity and 12 other environmental groups. It seems the oil giant thinks it can intimidate us with threats so that it can push through dangerous new drilling in the fragile Arctic ecosystem. Please stand with the Center and help us defeat this obnoxious, anti-free-speech lawsuit -- donate to our Emergency Legal Defense Fund today. Because of this emergency, a generous Center supporter has agreed to match all donations if we can raise $50,000, so please make a special gift today if you can. Why is Shell Oil suing the Center? Because we've stopped every offshore drilling proposal in the Arctic since 2007. Shell knows we're effective, so it's trying to take us out with its preemptive attack. But we're not leaving. We're fighting back. Shell's suit doesn't only seek to ensure it can drill for oil this summer. It's also trying to get us to pay Shell's legal fees. These will likely run into the hundreds of thousands of dollars. The Shell game looks like intimidation and shutting down free speech. Don't let Shell win. Donate today to the Center's Emergency Legal Defense Fund to save the Arctic. This isn't the first time Shell has gone after environmentalists. It's in front of the U.S. Supreme Court right now in a suit by people whose families were tortured and even killed for blowing the whistle on the company's oil drilling in Nigeria. Please, help us take a stand against Shell's strong-arm tactics. We need to raise $50,000 to secure the matching pledge so we can defeat Shell's attack on the Center, free speech and the Arctic wilderness. Please donate today if you can. Thanks in advance, Kierán Suckling Executive Director Center for Biological Diversity P.S. While Shell is aggressively suing us, it's telling the Supreme Court that environmentalists should be prohibited from suing it. Don't let Shell's hypocrisy stand! Please donate to the Emergency Legal Defense Fund today. Center for Biological Diversity P.O. Box 710 Tucson, AZ 85702 1-866-357-3349 www.BiologicalDiversity.org

Permanent injunction against Walker's Voter ID Law in League of Women Voters v Walker

A permanent injunction, declaring Wisconsin's Voter ID law to be unconstitutional, has been issued, in League of Women Voters v. Walker:

March 12, 2012, Permanent Injunction Against Voter ID Law

The Court, by Judge Richard G. Niess, flatly rejected the defendants' reasoning:

The people’s fundamental right of suffrage preceded and gave birth to our Constitution (the sole source of the legislature’s so-called “plenary authority”), not the other way around. Until the people’s vote approved the Constitution, the legislature had no authority to regulate anything, let alone elections. Thus, voting rights hold primacy over implicit legislative authority to regulate elections. In other words, defendants’ argument that the fundamental right to vote must yield to legislative fiat turns our constitutional scheme of democratic government squarely on its head.

This is why, over the years, although recognizing that the legislature and governor are accorded implicit authority to enact laws regulating elections, our Supreme Court has repeatedly admonished that such laws cannot destroy or substantially impair a qualified elector’s right to vote.

The court went on to say:

Because the Wisconsin Constitution is the people’s bulwark against government overreach, courts must reject every opportunity to contort its language into implicitly providing what it explicitly does not: license to enact laws that, for any citizen, cancel or substantially burden a constitutionally-guaranteed sacred right, such as the right to vote. Otherwise we stray into judicial activism at its most insidious. Our Constitution is a line in the sand drawn by the sovereign authority in this state – the people of Wisconsin – that the legislature, governor, and the courts may not cross, particularly under the all-too-convenient guise of strained construction and attenuated inference.

The Court concluded:

The right to vote belongs to all Wisconsin citizens who are qualified electors, not just the fortunate majority for whom Act 23 poses little obstacle at the polls.

Accordingly, while the legislature and governor are constitutionally accorded broad authority to police fraud in elections, including through criminal and civil penalties, their power, like all police power, ends at the precise point where it transgresses the fundamental voting rights of Wisconsin citizens.......

Without question, where it exists, voter fraud corrupts elections and undermines our form of government. The legislature and governor may certainly take aggressive action to prevent its occurrence. But voter fraud is no more poisonous to our democracy than voter suppression. Indeed, they are two heads on the same monster.

A government that undermines the very foundation of its existence – the people’s inherent, pre-constitutional right to vote – imperils its legitimacy as a government by the people, for the people, and especially of the people. It sows the seeds for its own demise as a democratic institution.....

Judgment is rendered declaring 2011 Wisconsin Act 23’s photo ID requirements unconstitutional to the extent they serve as a condition for voting at the polls. Moreover, defendants are permanently enjoined forthwith from any further implementation or enforcement of those provisions.

Elizabeth Warren: Why shouldn't AIG pay taxes?

Let's start making AIG pay its fair share  View Mobile Version Ray, Last week, insurance giant American International Group (AIG) reported fourth quarter profits of nearly $20 billion. But almost $18 billion of that total didn't come from the insurance business. It came from a special federal tax giveaway. AIG is the same large financial institution that the government bailed out to the tune of $182 billion in the midst of the financial crisis. AIG had gambled recklessly on mortgage-backed securities -- and lost. The government stepped in to keep AIG afloat and out of bankruptcy. Now, more than three years later, Washington is continuing to subsidize AIG with a special tax deal that allows it to avoid paying any taxes. Today, I joined forces with a bipartisan group of my former colleagues on the Congressional Oversight Panel charged with oversight on the bank bailout to call on Congress to end AIG's ongoing bailout and special tax status. Enough is enough. Will you join our call? As chair of the oversight panel, I worked hard to protect taxpayers, to hold Wall Street accountable, and to ensure tough oversight of the Treasury Department for its implementation of the Troubled Asset Relief Program, or the TARP. That meant standing up to large financial institutions and exposing some of their back-room deals. I think it's time AIG paid its fair share of taxes. Washington can't keep giving special breaks to big corporations while middle class families get stuck with the bill. That's what I believed as Chair of the oversight panel -- and it's what I believe now. Beginning in 2008, the Treasury Department made a series of decisions to exempt AIG from tax laws that should have limited how much in past losses it could use to write off future taxes. That exemption gives AIG an advantage over its competitors with a bonus unnecessary to protect the economy. What's more, the special tax breaks also lead to higher corporate "profits" and inflate compensation for the company's executives. Middle class families are still getting hammered, while Wall Street, the big banks and big corporations are getting special tax breaks. It isn't right. Everyone should have to play by the same rules. I've fought hard to stand up to large financial institutions and to call out bad deals for taxpayers. I hope you'll join me in calling on Congress to start making AIG pay its fair share. Thank you for being a part of this, Elizabeth   Follow Elizabeth on Facebook   Follow Elizabeth on Twitter All content © 2012 Elizabeth for MA, All Rights Reserved PO Box 290568 Boston, MA 02129 Paid for by Elizabeth for MA

Injunction granted against Wisconsin voter ID law in Milwaukee NAACP v. Walker

Hat tip to Brad Friedman of The Brad Blog for bringing this decision to our attention. - R.B.

In Milwaukee Branch of the NAACP v. Walker, the Court has issued a temporary injunction against implementation of Wisconsin's new voter ID law, on the ground that the NAACP will probably prevail in proving that the statute is unconstitutional under Wisconsin's constitution.

In arriving at its decision the Court noted that
-a significant proportion of eligible voters do not possess the requisite photo ID;
-the statute imposed a substantial burden on qualified voters;
-there was no evidence of voter identification fraud which would have warranted such legislation;
-the statute's procedures were inflexible;
-the statute would have disproportionately impacted elderly, indigent, and minority voters; and
-irreparable harm would flow from denying the injunction.

The court cited, as an example of the law's impact, the case of Ruthelle Frank, who is 84 years old, a lifelong resident of the same Wisconsin town, and a member of its town board for the past 18 years. Ms. Frank has voted in every election for the past 64 years, but does not have a voter ID card, and might not be able to get one because her name is misspelled on her birth certificate.

Order granting temporary injunction

New documentary: "Heist: Who Stole the American Dream" NYC screenings Mar 2-4

Dear Ray, We want to let you know there’s a great movie coming to you in New York City this weekend, March 2-4.  Heist: Who Stole the American Dream is a powerful documentary that connects the dots to show you how and why we live in an era of class warfare, and what we can do to restore democracy and economic fairness. Heist tells the tale of our country’s financial collapse and the devastation that ensues -- and what we can do about it.  We know that big corporations have played a huge role instealing our democracy and busting the economy.  We know families and communities are struggling across the country.  We also know that hope and change can and must grow from the shambles we're in -- people are organizing everywhere to demand and create solutions. Heist is a rallying cry of all of us, the 99%. Check out the film!  Get your tickets for the opening weekend screening of Heist, March 2-4 in New York City. Our moment to transform the American economic and political landscape is here. What will it take to shift power from organized money to organized people? The film is showing for a full week, starting March 2. During the opening weekend, you'll get to meet and talk with the filmmakers. Join in the discussion of what we can do together, as we launch into a people-powered, action-packed spring for the 99%. Click here to buy your opening weekend tickets for Heist, and join the film directors in discussion. Hope to see you there! Natalie and the rest of the Rebuild the Dream Team p.s. You can find out more about the film here.  For more details about the screening in NYC, click here.

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