DURHAM, N.C. – The U.S. Supreme Court's 2010 Citizens United decision opened the floodgates of political spending by allowing unlimited spending by outside political groups, or super PACS.
And today, experts are gathering in Durham to examine how money in politics is a civil rights issue.
Chris Kromm, executive director of the Institute for Southern Studies, says money from special interest groups is a serious threat to democracy because it drowns out the voice of ordinary voters.
"It helps influence which candidates have the most resources and are considered viable, what issues get talked about during campaigns, who lawmakers listen to once they're in office and all this fundamentally goes against the idea that all citizens should have an equal say in the democracy, you know – one person one vote," he points out.
Kromm adds that North Carolina is an increasingly diverse state, but he says research finds the majority of big political donors are white residents, which causes a large disconnect between voters and candidates.
Spending in North Carolina's U.S. Senate race last year was more than $100 million, making it the most expensive Congressional race in history.
A recent New York Times report found that just 158 families, or the corporations they represent, have accounted for about half of the money spent in the 2016 race so far, spending $250,000 each.
Kromm contends that kind of spending restricts who can run for office.
"That limits our choices to just those who can amass huge sums of money,” he stresses. “So the question is no longer whether or not you have a good platform, good ideas, can inspire voters, but it's more about the size of your wallet. "
Kromm says that North Carolina was once a leader in cleaner elections with a program implemented in 2004 that gave judicial candidates a public campaign grant for agreeing to strict spending and fundraising limits.
"It passed with bipartisan support,” he states. “Eighty percent of judges used it. And a lot of judges who ran said it was great because instead of dialing for dollars and trying to hustle up money during the campaign, they were talking to voters about what they cared about as judges. "
The program was nixed in 2013 as part of HB 589, a sweeping voting reform bill currently challenged in federal courts.
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Whether state courts are allowed to review the validity of redistricting by state legislatures is at the heart of a case to be considered by the U.S. Supreme Court.
A ruling in Moore v. Harper would allow for the creation of hyperpartisan voting districts which could not be challenged under judicial review by state courts, allowing state legislatures to be the sole authority responsible for developing the redistricting maps.
Vincent Bonventre, professor at Albany Law School, said the effects of the ruling would be long-lasting.
"A party in power that draws a redistricting map that very heavily favors that party in power," Bonventre pointed out. "Then therefore makes it an almost certainty that the party in power is going to win a disproportionate number of elections."
In New York, it could result in a majority Democratic rule and would overrule the decision in Harkenrider v. Hochul, which threw out a voting map drawn up by Democrats in the New York Legislature considered gerrymandered. Depending on the Supreme Court's ruling in Moore v. Harper, the New York map could be reconsidered for future use.
According to Ballotopedia, 48 of the 50 states have overwhelmingly Democratic or Republican-controlled legislatures, and depending on the outcome of the case, could remain so through redistricting.
Bonventre is unsure if states would be able to pass laws to blunt the effects of the ruling. However, he contended he knows what would be best for the voters.
"If we allow these extremely partisan redistricting by the state legislatures, so that the party in power disproportionately wins congressional seats, that is clearly contrary to the preferences of the voters in that state," Bonventre argued.
He sees strong legal arguments on both sides of the case, but noted allowing state courts to remain as a check to the legislature's power on redistricting would ultimately preserve the integrity of voting. It also lets voters decide who they want to represent them, rather than elected officials choosing whom they need to get reelected.
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Albuquerque has been thrown into the national spotlight after the shootings of four Muslim men, including three in the past two weeks, prompting President Joe Biden to express his outrage over what appear to be hate crimes.
The nation's largest nonprofit Muslim civil rights group, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, is offering a $10,000 reward to anyone who can provide information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible for the killings.
Ibrahim Hooper, national communications director for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said the first killing last November seemed random, but it is clearly not the case.
"It's just unprecedented that you would have these attacks over, now more than nine-month period," Hooper asserted. "Always in these cases, somebody knows something, and they just need an incentive to come forward."
The most recent homicide occurred late Friday night. Naeem Hussain, 25, had been a U.S. citizen for less than a month when he was shot just hours after attending a funeral for two of the recent victims. Over the weekend, the Albuquerque Police said a dark gray or silver, four-door sedan with tinted windows, perhaps a Volkswagen, may be involved in the shootings.
Albuquerque police officers have adjusted shifts and schedules to monitor the city's mosques and places of prayer in the Muslim community. Because the area does not have a large Muslim population, Hooper said the targeted killings have created significant fear.
"We're working with law enforcement authorities, we're working with the local Muslim community and just trying to get through this horrific series of events," Hooper explained. "Hopefully, it can prevent anything from occurring in the future."
Albuquerque has already recorded 75 homicides this year, a comparable number to 2021, which was the city's deadliest year on record.
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Ohio's last execution was four years ago today, and advocates for ending the death penalty are hopeful it remains the last.
At noon, people at rallies for a "Day of Hope" in Cincinnati, Columbus and Cleveland will call for an end to capital punishment.
Kwame Ajamu of Cleveland is among the 11 people in Ohio exonerated from death row. Now the Chairman of the group Witness to Innocence, he explained that, at age 17, he was wrongfully convicted and sentenced to death due to false eyewitness testimony and police misconduct.
"It took 39 years of my life to prove my innocence and become exonerated," said Ajamu. "We should not be in that barbaric stage anymore in our humanity, and as long as I have breath, I will stand forcibly against capital punishment."
In the Ohio Legislature, House Bill 183 and Senate Bill 103 have bipartisan support and if passed, would make Ohio the 24th state to abolish the death penalty. But some who favor the death penalty believe it's morally justified for those who commit murder.
Ohio has had an unofficial execution moratorium for four years due to ongoing conflicts with pharmaceutical suppliers, with eight reprieves already issued for executions this year.
Bekky Baker, program manager for Death Penalty & Peace and Nonviolence with the Intercommunity Justice and Peace Center in Cincinnati, said the state has never been this close to abolishing capital punishment.
"We've had some terribly botched executions," said Baker. "We have an inability to obtain the injection drugs. So there's really no humane way to kill a person. So, we keep pushing back execution dates - and really, we should just get rid of the system as a whole."
And a majority in polls are concerned about innocent people being put to death. Ajamu argued that Ohioans deserve a system of equal justice.
"The people here deserve - with knowledge, understanding, and proper reasoning - a better focal point towards how we should go forward as human beings," said Ajamu, "as opposed to staying in the dark and always just wanting to put somebody to death."
A 2020 Ohio poll found 69% of Democrats and 53% of Republicans support death penalty repeal.
This story was produced in association with Media in the Public Interest and funded in part by the George Gund Foundation.
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