Freedom Line Blog

The Center for Individual Freedom (“CFIF”) this week submitted comments to the Federal Election Commission (“FEC”) in response to a petition requesting the FEC establish a new rule requiring corporations and other organizations – specifically 501(c)(4) not-for-profit groups – that contribute to independent-expenditure-only committees (Super PACs) to do so through a separate segregated account subject to burdensome disclosure requirements.

CFIF opposes the proposed rule on grounds that it contradicts the unambiguously expressed intent of Congress and thereby exceeds the FEC’s statutory authority, that it would not serve the purposes ostensibly advanced by the petition, and that it would burden core First Amendment speech.

The petition for rulemaking was filed by Make Your Laws PAC, Inc. and Make Your Laws Advocacy, Inc.  CFIF’s comments were prepared by Wiley Rein, LLP.

Read CFIF’s comments here.

Below is one of the latest cartoons from two-time Pulitzer Prize-winner Michael Ramirez.

View more of Michael Ramirez’s cartoons on CFIF’s website here.

Join CFIF Corporate Counsel and Senior Vice President Renee Giachino today from 4:00 p.m. CDT to 6:00 p.m. CDT (that’s 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. EDT) on Northwest Florida’s 1330 AM WEBY, as she hosts her radio show, “Your Turn: Meeting Nonsense with Commonsense.”  Today’s guest lineup includes:

4:00 CDT/5:00 pm EDT: Ilya Shapiro, Senior Fellow in Constitutional Studies at the Cato Institute and Editor-in-Chief of the Cato Supreme Court Review: October 2015 Term;

4:30 CDT/5:30 pm EDT: The Honorable Michael Warren, Oakland County (MI) Circuit Court Judge and co-creator of Patriot Week: Civics and Patriotism in America;

4:45 CDT/5:45 pm EDT: Professor Gail Heirot, Member of the United States Commission on Civil Rights and Professor of Law at the University of San Diego School of Law: Immigrant Detention Centers;

5:00 CDT/6:00 pm EDT: Quin Hillyer, Political Expert and American Newspaper Columnist and Writer: Election 2016;

5:30 CDT/6:30 pm EDT: Doug Bronson, Member of the Florida House of Representatives: Looking Behind and Ahead; and

5:45 CDT/6:45 pm EDT: Marita Noon, Executive Director of Energy Makes America Great: House Votes to Lift Oil-Export Ban.

Listen live on the Internet here.   Call in to share your comments or ask questions of today’s guests at (850) 623-1330

In a letter addressed to Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch and Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles Grassley, the Center for Individual Freedom (“CFIF”) this week led a coalition of a half dozen prominent free-market organizations urging opposition to any legislation that grants Puerto Rico “Super Chapter 9” status. 

“‘Super Chapter 9’ would give Governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla a free pass to violate Puerto Rico’s constitution, but would do nothing to bring about meaningful fiscal reform,” the letter reads.

“It is our hope that Congress will instead take the lead on this tough issue by urging the Garcia Padilla Administration to implement real fiscal reform and uphold the constitution before any consideration of restructuring the non-constitutional debt,” the letter continues.  “If necessary, Congress has the legal authority to consider measures such as a federal control board to oversee financial reform.  When, and only when, reform is enacted, Congress can then consider a process that encourages an orderly restructuring of Puerto Rico’s debts that respects the constitutionally-protected bonds and the rule of law.”

In addition to CFIF, the letter was signed by the leaders of Frontiers of Freedom, Hispanic Leadership Fund,  Institute for Liberty, National Taxpayers Union and Taxpayers Protection Alliance.   

Read the letter by clicking here (PDF).

CFIF Contributing Editor Ben Boychuk discusses how today’s Republican Party resembles the Whig Party of 1850, why Donald Trump, Carly Fiorina and Ben Carson are popular candidates, and more.

Listen to the interview here.

In an interview with CFIF, David Adesnik, Policy Director at the Foreign Policy Initiative, discusses America’s defense and strategy issues as they relate to the Iran Nuclear Deal and why we need serious engagement on foreign policy issues by America’s next president.

Listen to the interview here.

Below is one of the latest cartoons from two-time Pulitzer Prize-winner Michael Ramirez.

View more of Michael Ramirez’s cartoons on CFIF’s website here.

In an interview with CFIF, Clark Neily, Senior Attorney for the Institute for Justice, discusses his latest book, “Terms of Engagement: How Our Courts Should Enforce the Constitution’s Promise of Limited Government,” and the importance of and issues surrounding separation of powers, economic liberty, property rights, the Second Amendment, and more.

Listen to the interview here.

Below is one of the latest cartoons from two-time Pulitzer Prize-winner Michael Ramirez.

View more of Michael Ramirez’s cartoons on CFIF’s website here.

Timothy Lee, CFIF’s Senior Vice President of Legal and Public Affairs, discusses Hillary Clinton’s conduct as Secretary of State, the Iran deal and how speech regulation is used to silence dissent.

Listen to the interview here.

Below is one of the latest cartoons from two-time Pulitzer Prize-winner Michael Ramirez.

In this installment of the Freedom Minute, CFIF’s Renee Giachino discusses the massive toxic spill caused by the EPA in a Colorado river, the agency’s response to the disaster and the double standard by which business and the feds are held to account.

Below is one of the latest cartoons from two-time Pulitzer Prize-winner Michael Ramirez.

View more of Michael Ramirez’s cartoons on CFIF’s website here.

Below is one of the latest cartoons from two-time Pulitzer Prize-winner Michael Ramirez.

View more of Michael Ramirez’s cartoons on CFIF’s website here.

Join CFIF Corporate Counsel and Senior Vice President Renee Giachino today from 4:00 p.m. CDT to 6:00 p.m. CDT (that’s 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. EDT) on Northwest Florida’s 1330 AM WEBY, as she hosts her radio show, “Your Turn: Meeting Nonsense with Commonsense.”  Today’s guest lineup includes:

4:00 CDT/5:00 pm EDT: Tim Wyrosdick, Superintendent of Schools, Santa Rosa County: A New School Year;

4:30 CDT/5:30 pm EDT: Mario Lopez, President of the Hispanic Leadership Fund: Dangerous New Climate Regulations;

5:00 CDT/6:00 pm EDT: Ryan Lovelace, Campaign Reporter for The Washington Examiner: Takeaways from the 2016 Presidential Debate and RedState Gathering; and

5:30 CDT/6:30 pm EDT: Troy Senik, CFIF’s Senior Fellow, Editor-in-Chief at Ricochet and Former Speechwriter for President George W. Bush: America Divided, Iran and Other Current Events.

Listen live on the Internet here.   Call in to share your comments or ask questions of today’s guests at (850) 623-1330

In an interview with CFIF, Garland S. Tucker III, author and historian, discusses his latest book, “Conservative Heroes: Fourteen Leaders Who Shaped America, From Jefferson to Reagan.”

Listen to the interview here.

Below is one of the latest cartoons from two-time Pulitzer Prize-winner Michael Ramirez.

View more of Michael Ramirez’s cartoons on CFIF’s website here.

Below is one of the latest cartoons from two-time Pulitzer Prize-winner Michael Ramirez.

View more of Michael Ramirez’s cartoons on CFIF’s website here.

In an interview with CFIF, Tzvi Kahn, Senior Policy Analyst for the Foreign Policy Initiative, discusses the Iran nuclear deal and its implications for U.S. foreign policy and the Middle East.

Listen to the interview here.

In this latest installment of the Freedom Minute, CFIF’s Renee Giachino discusses Puerto Rico’s debt crisis, explains why a Chapter 9 bailout is a bad idea, and warns that Puerto Rico should serve as a wake-up call for the entire nation to get its fiscal house in order.