This article by Ashifa Kasaam appeared in The Guardian, March 4th, 2018. A small municipality in the Canadian province of Quebec that was facing a million-dollar lawsuit from an oil and gas exploration company has won its court battle, bringing an end to a four-year ordeal that began when residents took steps to protect their [...]
This article by Terry Smith appeared in The Athens News, February 28th, 2018. The 4th District Court of Appeals today (Thursday) is scheduled to hear an appeal of the Athens County Board of Elections’ decision last July to reject an anti-fracking county charter proposal for the November 2017 ballot. The appellant, described as “a committee [...]
This article by Jonathan Stempel appeared on Reuters, February 15, 2018. A federal appeals court on Thursday threw out a constitutional challenge by the conservative group Citizens United to New York state’s requirement that registered charities disclose their donors annually. The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan rejected claims that the requirement violated [...]
That is the question addressed by the new documentary ‘Drilling Mora County’ This article by Tamra Testerman appeared in The Taos News, February 8th, 2018. The genesis of David Luis Leal Cortez’ most recent film, “Drilling Mora County,” and his journey as a filmmaker began where he said he made his first super-8 short films at the [...]
This article by John Collins appeared in In These Times, February 8th, 2018. When you combine an economic system that requires constant growth in order to function, with a legal system that mistakes corporations for “people”—you inevitably wind up with a few extremely powerful corporations and a lot of powerless citizens. Furthermore, when that same [...]
Lawyers face major penalties for defending communities and ecosystems. This article by Mark Hand was published in Think Progress, February 5, 2018. Oil and gas companies are moving beyond simply filing lawsuits against municipalities that pass ordinances banning drilling and other types of industrial activity. In recent months, the energy industry, along with a state attorney [...]
A Blog Posting by Thomas Linzey of the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund, from February 5, 2018. Times are a’changin. When liberals begin talking about local control and states’ rights, you know that something is afoot. Local control and states’ rights have long been a bastion for conservative republicans, the right-wing and racists. Today, states and [...]
Paul Cienfuegos presented the Keynote Speech at Progresstival in La Crosse, Wisconsin on February 3rd, 2018. The full text of his speech is below. To listen to it on audio, click HERE and scroll to the six-minute mark. Thank you all for inviting me to such a wonderful event today. It’s a pleasure to be here [...]
This article by Tish O'Dell and Thomas Linzey appeared in the Colombus Free Press, February 2nd, 2018. President Trump says – and the Supreme Court affirms – that we are “a nation of laws,” but no one questions “who” is making those laws. It takes a people’s movement to overturn unjust law and advance rights. [...]
This Radio Lab radio presentation aired, January 31st, 2018. This 57 minute audio production can be listened to HERE. An unassuming string of 16 words tucked into the Constitution grants Congress extensive power to make laws that impact the entire nation. The Commerce Clause has allowed Congress to intervene in all kinds of situations — [...]
