National Public Radio: on Government Reform
Amy Coney Barrett:
AZ mail-in restrictions don't violate Voting Rights Act
Arizona voting restrictions challenged as violations of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. First, voters casting their votes on Election Day outside their precinct are not counted. Second, mail-in ballots cannot be collected by anyone other than an
election official, a mail carrier, or a voter's family or household member. The court held, 6-3, that these restrictions did not violate the Act nor were they racially discriminatory.Dissenters argued that the Court's narrow reading weakened the law
and disregarded its intent to address disparities in how election laws affect different racial groups. The rule discarding "out of precinct votes" impacted black and Hispanic voters, with Arizona leading the country in discarding such votes.
Restrictions on vote collection makes voting more difficult for Native Americans.
Samuel Alito wrote the opinion of the Court. John Roberts, Neil Gorsuch, Clarence Thomas, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett concurred.
Source: NPR commentary on 2021 SCOTUS rulings
Jul 1, 2021
Brett Kavanaugh:
AZ mail-in restrictions don't violate Voting Rights Act
Arizona voting restrictions challenged as violations of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. First, voters casting their votes on Election Day outside their precinct are not counted. Second, mail-in ballots cannot be collected by anyone other than an
election official, a mail carrier, or a voter's family or household member. The court held, 6-3, that these restrictions did not violate the Act nor were they racially discriminatory.Dissenters argued that the Court's narrow reading weakened the law
and disregarded its intent to address disparities in how election laws affect different racial groups. The rule discarding "out of precinct votes" impacted black and Hispanic voters, with Arizona leading the country in discarding such votes.
Restrictions on vote collection makes voting more difficult for Native Americans.
Samuel Alito wrote the opinion of the Court. John Roberts, Neil Gorsuch, Clarence Thomas, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett concurred.
Source: NPR commentary on 2021 SCOTUS rulings
Jul 1, 2021
Clarence Thomas:
AZ mail-in restrictions don't violate Voting Rights Act
Arizona voting restrictions challenged as violations of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. First, voters casting their votes on Election Day outside their precinct are not counted. Second, mail-in ballots cannot be collected by anyone other than an
election official, a mail carrier, or a voter's family or household member. The court held, 6-3, that these restrictions did not violate the Act nor were they racially discriminatory.Dissenters argued that the Court's narrow reading weakened the law
and disregarded its intent to address disparities in how election laws affect different racial groups. The rule discarding "out of precinct votes" impacted black and Hispanic voters, with Arizona leading the country in discarding such votes.
Restrictions on vote collection makes voting more difficult for Native Americans.
Samuel Alito wrote the opinion of the Court. John Roberts, Neil Gorsuch, Clarence Thomas, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett concurred.
Source: NPR commentary on 2021 SCOTUS rulings
Jul 1, 2021
Danielle Allen:
Democracy is about working, deciding, acting together
Imagine a state government that in a crisis jumps in and activates all of our talents in response. Imagine one Commonwealth where those who are in power recognize their responsibility to the greater good and where those who felt powerless
are reconnected to their own agency through communal action. That's what democracy is about: coming together, working together, learning together, deciding together, and acting together.
Source: WAMC Albany-NPR on 2022 Massachusetts gubernatorial race
Jun 15, 2021
Democratic Party:
AZ mail-in restrictions violate Voting Rights Act
Arizona voting restrictions challenged as violations of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. First, voters casting their votes on Election Day outside their precinct are not counted. Second, mail-in ballots cannot be collected by anyone other than an
election official, a mail carrier, or a voter's family or household member. The court held, 6-3, that these restrictions did not violate the Act nor were they racially discriminatory.Dissenters argued that the Court's narrow reading weakened the law
and disregarded its intent to address disparities in how election laws affect different racial groups. The rule discarding "out of precinct votes" impacted black and Hispanic voters, with Arizona leading the country in discarding such votes.
Restrictions on vote collection makes voting more difficult for Native Americans.
President Biden said he was "deeply disappointed in today's decision by the United States Supreme Court that undercuts the Voting Rights Act."
Source: NPR commentary on 2021 SCOTUS rulings
Jul 1, 2021
Elena Kagan:
AZ mail-in restrictions violate Voting Rights Act
Arizona voting restrictions challenged as violations of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. First, voters casting their votes on Election Day outside their precinct are not counted. Second, mail-in ballots cannot be collected by anyone other than an
election official, a mail carrier, or a voter's family or household member. The court held, 6-3, that these restrictions did not violate the Act nor were they racially discriminatory.Dissenters argued that the
Court's narrow reading weakened the law and disregarded its intent to address disparities in how election laws affect different racial groups. The rule discarding "out of precinct votes" impacted black and Hispanic voters, with Arizona
leading the country in discarding such votes. Restrictions on vote collection makes voting more difficult for Native Americans.
Elena Kagan wrote the dissent, joined by Stephen Breyer and Sonia Sotomayor.
Source: NPR commentary on 2021 SCOTUS rulings
Jul 1, 2021
Howard Dean:
Kerry stands up against PAC and lobbyist money
NADER [to Dean]: The issue here is the corporate government. Let's not be distracted by the two parties that are simply proxies. We don't want to settle for the lesser of two evils in our country..
What you're hearing now is a desperate attempt to smear our campaign, which is struggling to get on the ballot against the massive anti-civil-liberties obstruction of the Democratic Party that's really interfering with our campaign.
DEAN: You told the people of this country that you were going to use volunteer help to get on the ballot in Arizona. You hired out that help, and that's why they made so many mistakes.
The Public Citizen, which you founded, said earlier this year that John Kerry ranks at the top of senators in standing up against political action committee money, which he has never accepted in his career, and lobbyist money.
Source: NPR, "Justice Talking" Dean-Nader Debate
Jul 9, 2004
Howard Dean:
Need instant runoff voting to avoid threats like Nader
DEAN: We need complete electoral reform. We need, first of all, that Jesse Jackson Jr.'s constitutional amendment giving Americans the right to vote ought to be passed, so that the right wing of the Republican Party could not, as they did in 2000,
disenfranchise thousands and thousands of African-American voters. Secondly, we wouldn't be having this debate today if we had a system of instant runoff voting in this country. Then Ralph Nader would pose no threat to the election of John Kerry.
If we had instant runoff voting, we could have the kind of debates that Ralph wants, open debates, because minor parties, third parties wouldn't cause those problems.
NADER: The only way third parties have had leverage over the major party candidates is to deny them votes, is to say to them that for too long, they have ignored the needs of the American people. They've had their chance.
Source: NPR, "Justice Talking" Dean-Nader Debate
Jul 9, 2004
Howard Dean:
Voting "none of the above" avoids real world choices
NADER: In America, you can only vote "yes" when you go to the polls. You have no opportunity to vote "no confidence" in all the candidates. If you have binding "none of the above" on every ballot line, if you don't like the candidates and you don't want
to write anyone in, you can vote binding "none of the above." DEAN: That is exactly the difference between the two of us. We live in a real world. We have to make real choices. Binding "none of the above" means we don't have to make real choices.
Source: NPR, "Justice Talking" Dean-Nader Debate
Jul 9, 2004
Jack Reed:
Nuclear option: Allow confirmation of Obama's appointees
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse said that "nothing in the Constitution gives the Senate minority the right to obstruct nominees. This pattern of obstruction had to stop."The rule change came on a largely party line after partisan rancor between
Democratic and Republican leaders had triggered gridlock in appointing federal judges and other top level federal officials.
Source: R.I. NPR 91.5 FM reporting on 2014 Rhode Island Senate race
Nov 21, 2013
Jay Inslee:
Filibuster is preventing climate change legislation
The sad fact is [that] at the moment... we're going to have to find a way to get this done without them, we still have not seen the spirit of Teddy Roosevelt. We're seeing the spirit of Mitch McConnell, who will kill any climate change bill in its
cradle if he has a chance. And that means we have to get rid of the filibuster, we have to prevent Mitch McConnell from stopping climate change and we have to let majority vote--one person one vote--be the Democratic rule in the U.S. Senate.
Source: NPR Morning Edition: Election 2020 Special Series
May 31, 2019
Joe Biden:
Biden administration officially backs statehood for DC
PROMISE MADE: (National News, 4/21/21) Democratic Presidential nominee Joe Biden has gone on record saying he supports the movement. "Absolutely, I have for the last 28 years," Mr Biden said when asked by a supporter of the DC statehood
movement whether he would endorse the move. Twitter posting @JoeBiden (Jun 25, 2020): "DC should be a state. Pass it on."
PROMISE KEPT: (WTOP News, 4/20/21): "The Administration strongly supports H.R. 51, the Washington D.C. Admission
Act. For far too long, the more than 700,000 people of Washington, D.C. have been deprived of full representation in the U.S. Congress. This taxation without representation and denial of self-governance is an affront to the democratic values on which
our Nation was founded," the White House said in a statement.
ANALYSIS: The bill would have to pass the House AND the Senate, but President Biden has kept his promise insofar as publicly supporting the effort as president.
Source: NPR on Biden Administration promises
Apr 22, 2021
John Roberts:
AZ mail-in restrictions don't violate Voting Rights Act
Arizona voting restrictions challenged as violations of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. First, voters casting their votes on Election Day outside their precinct are not counted. Second, mail-in ballots cannot be collected by anyone other than an
election official, a mail carrier, or a voter's family or household member. The court held, 6-3, that these restrictions did not violate the Act nor were they racially discriminatory.Dissenters argued that the Court's narrow reading weakened the law
and disregarded its intent to address disparities in how election laws affect different racial groups. The rule discarding "out of precinct votes" impacted black and Hispanic voters, with Arizona leading the country in discarding such votes.
Restrictions on vote collection makes voting more difficult for Native Americans.
Samuel Alito wrote the opinion of the Court. John Roberts, Neil Gorsuch, Clarence Thomas, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett concurred.
Source: NPR commentary on 2021 SCOTUS rulings
Jul 1, 2021
Mark Brnovich:
AZ mail-in restrictions don't violate Voting Rights Act
Arizona voting restrictions challenged as violations of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. First, voters casting their votes on Election Day outside their precinct are not counted. Second, mail-in ballots cannot be collected by anyone other than an
election official, a mail carrier, or a voter's family or household member. The court held, 6-3, that these restrictions did not violate the Act nor were they racially discriminatory.Dissenters argued that the Court's narrow reading weakened the law
and disregarded its intent to address disparities in how election laws affect different racial groups. The rule discarding "out of precinct votes" impacted black & Hispanic voters, with Arizona leading the country in discarding such votes. Restrictions
on vote collection makes voting more difficult for Native Americans.
Brnovich reacted: "Public servants have no more sacred duty than protecting the people's right to vote, but we have to maintain confidence in the results and in the process."
Source: NPR commentary on 2021 SCOTUS rulings
Jul 1, 2021
Mitch McConnell:
Trump practically, morally responsible for riots
Following the vote acquitting Trump, McConnell excoriated Trump for his actions on the day of the attack on the U.S. Capitol. But he said ultimately, he did not vote to convict because of constitutional concerns."There's no question, none, that
President Trump is practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of the day," McConnell said shortly after the 57-43 Senate vote that ended in the former president's acquittal. "The people who stormed this building believed they were
acting on the wishes and instructions of their president," he said, "and having that belief was a foreseeable consequence of the growing crescendo of false statements, conspiracy theories & reckless hyperbole which the defeated president kept shouting."
But McConnell said impeachment is a "limited tool" and that Trump is not "constitutionally eligible for conviction." "The Constitution gives us a particular role. This body is not invited to act as the nation's overarching moral tribunal," he said.
Source: NPR News on Jan. 6th Insurrection
Feb 13, 2021
Neil Gorsuch:
AZ mail-in restrictions don't violate Voting Rights Act
Arizona voting restrictions challenged as violations of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. First, voters casting their votes on Election Day outside their precinct are not counted. Second, mail-in ballots cannot be collected by anyone other than an
election official, a mail carrier, or a voter's family or household member. The court held, 6-3, that these restrictions did not violate the Act nor were they racially discriminatory.Dissenters argued that the Court's narrow reading weakened the law
and disregarded its intent to address disparities in how election laws affect different racial groups. The rule discarding "out of precinct votes" impacted black and Hispanic voters, with Arizona leading the country in discarding such votes.
Restrictions on vote collection makes voting more difficult for Native Americans.
Samuel Alito wrote the opinion of the Court. John Roberts, Neil Gorsuch, Clarence Thomas, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett concurred.
Source: NPR commentary on 2021 SCOTUS rulings
Jul 1, 2021
Pete Buttigieg:
Amendments among "most elegant features" of Constitution
The mayor supports a constitutional amendment to abolish the death penalty and intends to expand the Supreme Court and eradicate the Electoral College. "I don't know where we got the idea that it's impossible to do these things," he said. "This is a
country that changed the Constitution so you couldn't buy a drink and then changed its mind and changed it back. Are you really telling me that we are incapable of using one of the most elegant features of our constitutional system?"
Source: NPR Morning Edition: Election 2020 Special Series
Jul 11, 2019
Ralph Nader:
Justices need sense of justice & sense of history
Q: What are your criteria for Supreme Court Justice appointments?A: [An appointee] should have a "judicial temperament" [as exhibited by]:
- A sense of justice, which is essential in order to have a proper sense of when there's injustice; and
- A sense of history.
Source: National Press Club interview (aired on NPR)
Jul 23, 2000
Ralph Nader:
The two parties are proxies for corporate government
NADER [to Dean]: The issue here is the corporate government. Let's not be distracted by the two parties that are simply proxies. We don't want to settle for the lesser of two evils in our country.
We don't want to have another special interest clone in Washington. We don't want to have another Washington insider who shifts back and forth with every poll.
And we don't want to have insensitivity for the plight of workers, American workers in this country, who have lost their manufacturing jobs. All those quotes come from Howard Dean I against John Kerry in the primaries.
What you're hearing now is Howard Dean II, in a desperate attempt to smear our campaign, which is struggling to get on the ballot against the massive anti-civil-liberties obstruction of the Democratic Party that's really interfering with our campaign.
Source: NPR, "Justice Talking" Dean-Nader Debate
Jul 9, 2004
Ralph Nader:
Taking away votes from Democrats gains leverage
DEAN [to Nader]: We need complete electoral reform. We wouldn't be having this debate today if we had a system of instant runoff voting in this country. Then Ralph Nader would pose no threat to the election of John Kerry.
If we had instant runoff voting, we could have the kind of debates that Ralph wants, open debates, because minor parties, third parties wouldn't cause those problems.NADER: I would abolish the Electoral College.
For the US government to lecture people overseas about democracy and then turn around and say the man who got the lesser number of votes becomes president in 2000, and the person, Gore, who got more votes, is a rather difficult position to uphold.
It's also important to recognize, it's the only way third parties have had leverage over the major party candidates is to deny them votes, is to say to them that for too long, they have ignored the needs of the American people. They've had their chance.
Source: NPR, "Justice Talking" Dean-Nader Debate
Jul 9, 2004
Ralph Nader:
Advocate to allow people to vote "no confidence"
NADER: In America, you can only vote "yes" when you go to the polls. You have no opportunity to vote "no confidence" in all the candidates. If you have binding "none of the above" on every ballot line, if you don't like the candidates and you don't want
to write anyone in, you can vote binding "none of the above." DEAN: That is exactly the difference between the two of us. We live in a real world. We have to make real choices. Binding "none of the above" means we don't have to make real choices.
Source: NPR, "Justice Talking" Dean-Nader Debate
Jul 9, 2004
Samuel Alito:
AZ mail-in restrictions don't violate Voting Rights Act
Arizona voting restrictions challenged as violations of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. First, voters casting their votes on Election Day outside their precinct are not counted. Second, mail-in ballots cannot be collected by anyone other than an
election official, a mail carrier, or a voter's family or household member. The court held, 6-3, that these restrictions did not violate the Act nor were they racially discriminatory.Dissenters argued that the Court's narrow reading weakened the law
and disregarded its intent to address disparities in how election laws affect different racial groups. The rule discarding "out of precinct votes" impacted black and Hispanic voters, with Arizona leading the country in discarding such votes.
Restrictions on vote collection makes voting more difficult for Native Americans.
Samuel Alito wrote the opinion of the Court. John Roberts, Neil Gorsuch, Clarence Thomas, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett concurred.
Source: NPR commentary on 2021 SCOTUS rulings
Jul 1, 2021
Sharron Angle:
In state legislature, sole No vote called "41 to Angle"
In Las Vegas on Thursday night, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid faced his challenger, Republican Sharron Angle, in the only debate of the campaign.Reid is in the fight of his career as he seeks a fifth term. Angle, a former state legislator,
has the momentum of a come-from-behind primary victory and the support of the Tea Party.
Angle was famous as a state legislator for voting "no" so often that votes in the assembly were described as "41 to Angle."
Source: NPR Morning Edition coverage of 2010 Nevada Senate debate
Oct 15, 2010
Sonia Sotomayor:
AZ mail-in restrictions violate Voting Rights Act
Arizona voting restrictions challenged as violations of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. First, voters casting their votes on Election Day outside their precinct are not counted. Second, mail-in ballots cannot be collected by anyone other than an
election official, a mail carrier, or a voter's family or household member. The court held, 6-3, that these restrictions did not violate the Act nor were they racially discriminatory.Dissenters argued that the
Court's narrow reading weakened the law and disregarded its intent to address disparities in how election laws affect different racial groups. The rule discarding "out of precinct votes" impacted black and Hispanic voters, with Arizona
leading the country in discarding such votes. Restrictions on vote collection makes voting more difficult for Native Americans.
Elena Kagan wrote the dissent, joined by Stephen Breyer and Sonia Sotomayor.
Source: NPR commentary on 2021 SCOTUS rulings
Jul 1, 2021
Stephen Breyer:
AZ mail-in restrictions violate Voting Rights Act
Arizona voting restrictions challenged as violations of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. First, voters casting their votes on Election Day outside their precinct are not counted. Second, mail-in ballots cannot be collected by anyone other than an
election official, a mail carrier, or a voter's family or household member. The court held, 6-3, that these restrictions did not violate the Act nor were they racially discriminatory.Dissenters argued that the
Court's narrow reading weakened the law and disregarded its intent to address disparities in how election laws affect different racial groups. The rule discarding "out of precinct votes" impacted black and Hispanic voters, with Arizona
leading the country in discarding such votes. Restrictions on vote collection makes voting more difficult for Native Americans.
Elena Kagan wrote the dissent, joined by Stephen Breyer and Sonia Sotomayor.
Source: NPR commentary on 2021 SCOTUS rulings
Jul 1, 2021
Ted Budd:
Falsely claimed bill would allow minors to vote
Budd recently tweeted he's opposed to a federal voting rights bill because he said it "allows minors to vote." His office said he was referencing a provision that would allow 16- and 17-year-olds to preregister to vote. And that's the key word there:
preregister. That does not mean they could vote early. It means that those kids could fill out paperwork and get everything in order so that when the day comes, when they do turn 18 and the election does come around, everything is ready to go.
Source: WFAE 90.7 NPR Fact Check on 2022 North Carolina Senate race
Mar 17, 2021
Tom Steyer:
Looking for old fashioned values, character and transparency
Q: Has President Trump made the whole prospect of successful business figures in public office more or less enticing?STEYER: When I look at America today, what I am looking for is people
who are willing to be transparent, who have real principles, who go back to what I think of as basic American values. I'm looking for people of character to stand up for the same values that have characterized our country for hundreds of years.
Source: Scott Simon, NPR host, on 2020 presidential hopefuls
Feb 10, 2018
Page last updated: Oct 26, 2024