Think Tanks
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Manhattan Institute Issues Commentary to Law and Liberty: Education of a Cook County Originalist
NEW YORK, May 9 -- The Manhattan Institute issued the following excerpts of a commentary on May 8, 2026, by Ilya Shapiro, director of constitutional studies and senior fellow, to Law and Liberty:
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The Education of a Cook County Originalist
Randy Barnett's Felony Review is, in one obvious sense, a sequel to A Life for Liberty: his previous book gave us the intellectual arc, while this one recovers material that couldn't fit there and brings us down from the heights of constitutional theory to the police station, the courtroom, and the corruption-prone machinery of criminal justice.
Alan
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NEW YORK, May 9 -- The Manhattan Institute issued the following excerpts of a commentary on May 8, 2026, by Ilya Shapiro, director of constitutional studies and senior fellow, to Law and Liberty:
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The Education of a Cook County Originalist
Randy Barnett's Felony Review is, in one obvious sense, a sequel to A Life for Liberty: his previous book gave us the intellectual arc, while this one recovers material that couldn't fit there and brings us down from the heights of constitutional theory to the police station, the courtroom, and the corruption-prone machinery of criminal justice.
AlanDershowitz, who taught Barnett at Harvard Law and wrote the foreword to this book, is exactly right to say that his student's earlier work gave readers a "top-down view" of the legal system, while Felony Review lets us see it "from the bottom up."
What makes that bottom-up view so unusual is not merely that Barnett later became a famous law professor. It's that he first spent four years as a line prosecutor in Cook County, Chicago's famously crooked legal world. He was not some token federal appointee parachuting in for a resume line, but an assistant state's attorney doing the actual work.
That's rare enough among legal academics; it's unheard of among constitutional scholars. Barnett did more than study institutions. He lived them in their least flattering form: the drudgery, the adrenaline, the tactical lies, the moral ambiguities, and the daily need to separate real cases from garbage. Cook County wasn't a laboratory of democracy--it was democracy's underbelly.
Continue reading the entire piece here at Law and Liberty (https://lawliberty.org/book-review/the-education-of-a-cook-county-originalist)
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Ilya Shapiro is a senior fellow and director of constitutional studies at the Manhattan Institute.
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Original text here: https://manhattan.institute/article/the-education-of-a-cook-county-originalist
[Category: ThinkTank]
Manhattan Institute Issues Commentary to Bloomberg Opinion: Trump Accounts Are a New Way to Redistribute Wealth
NEW YORK, May 9 -- The Manhattan Institute issued the following excerpts of a commentary on May 8, 2026, by senior fellow Allison Schrager to Bloomberg Opinion:
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Trump Accounts Are a New Way to Redistribute Wealth
Economists may disagree about how important the issue of wealth inequality is, but politicians don't.
With a majority of Americans saying the gap between rich and poor is a very big problem, punitive wealth taxes are gaining in popularity and some elected officials are feuding with their wealthiest citizens.
Now the wealthy are responding - not just by moving to walled compounds
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NEW YORK, May 9 -- The Manhattan Institute issued the following excerpts of a commentary on May 8, 2026, by senior fellow Allison Schrager to Bloomberg Opinion:
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Trump Accounts Are a New Way to Redistribute Wealth
Economists may disagree about how important the issue of wealth inequality is, but politicians don't.
With a majority of Americans saying the gap between rich and poor is a very big problem, punitive wealth taxes are gaining in popularity and some elected officials are feuding with their wealthiest citizens.
Now the wealthy are responding - not just by moving to walled compoundsin Miami, but in a more productive way: by giving their money directly to children in lower-income families.
First Michael Dell and his wife donated $6.25 billion last year to seed so-called Trump accounts for up to 25 million children with $250 each.
Now this week there are reports that the administration is considering a plan to allow these accounts to accept direct donations of stock from billionaires, who are said to be interested in the idea.
Continue reading the entire piece here at Bloomberg Opinion (https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2026-05-08/trump-accounts-could-they-be-a-new-way-to-redistribute-wealth?srnd=undefined)
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Allison Schrager is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute and a contributing editor of City Journal.
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Original text here: https://manhattan.institute/article/trump-accounts-are-a-new-way-to-redistribute-wealth
[Category: ThinkTank]
Jamestown Foundation Issues Commentary: Russia Rehearsing Tactics Along NATO's Baltic Frontline
WASHINGTON, May 9 -- The Jamestown Foundation issued the following commentary on May 8, 2026, by Anna J. Davis, fellow of Eurasia Studies and contributing editor of Eurasia Daily Monitor:
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Russia Rehearsing Tactics Along NATO's Baltic Frontline
Executive Summary:
* Drones originating from Russia entered Latvian airspace on May 7. Irrespective of whether the drones are Russian or Ukrainian, the threat against the Baltics is a result of Russia's ongoing war against Ukraine.
* Russia is using the Baltic frontline of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) to rehearse airspace incursions
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WASHINGTON, May 9 -- The Jamestown Foundation issued the following commentary on May 8, 2026, by Anna J. Davis, fellow of Eurasia Studies and contributing editor of Eurasia Daily Monitor:
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Russia Rehearsing Tactics Along NATO's Baltic Frontline
Executive Summary:
* Drones originating from Russia entered Latvian airspace on May 7. Irrespective of whether the drones are Russian or Ukrainian, the threat against the Baltics is a result of Russia's ongoing war against Ukraine.
* Russia is using the Baltic frontline of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) to rehearse airspace incursionsand provocations while remaining below the threshold of open military confrontation.
* NATO's ability to respond to repeated probing in the Baltic states will shape whether Moscow's methods expand elsewhere in NATO, as they have already done with targeting of subsea critical infrastructure.
On May 7, several drones originating from Russia entered Latvian airspace. One crashed at an oil storage facility, while Latvian authorities continued efforts to locate another drone believed to have fallen in Rezekne municipality (Delfi; Latvian Public Media, May 7). Latvian defense officials chose not to intercept the drones due to concerns over civilian safety and critical infrastructure (Latvian Public Media, May 7). The Latvian president and prime minister said that the drone incidents are a consequence of Russia's war against Ukraine, while the origin of the drone is not yet confirmed (The Baltic Times; Latvian Public Media, May 7).
The Baltic states are on the frontline of North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) defense. Moscow is trying to test and pressure NATO capabilities on this frontline without triggering a clear military response. As they are NATO members, a clear act of military aggression against the Baltic states would trigger Article 5, which stipulates that an attack against one ally is considered an attack against them all (NATO, April 4, 1949). The May 7 drone incident fits a broader pattern of activity that has intensified since Russia launched its full scale invasion of Ukraine. The NATO Air Policing mission in the Baltic region scrambled three times within a single week to identify and escort Russian military aircraft operating near Baltic airspace. On April 29, the mission intercepted two Russian SU-24 bombers and a TU-134 aircraft in a separate incident on the same day. On May 1, the mission intercepted and escorted two Russian SU-24M aircraft (LRT, May 4; United24Media, May 5). In all cases, the Russian aircraft either had their transponders switched off, lacked a flight plan, or were not maintaining radio communication with the regional air traffic control center (Lithuanian Ministry of National Defense, May 7). The Russian Ministry of Defense described the flight as routine and compliant with international rules (TASS, April 20).
The repeated incidents reflect a deliberate pattern of Russian pressure on NATO's frontline. Moscow ultimately views the Baltic region as a key battleground in its broader conflict with the European Union and NATO, expanding from its war against Ukraine, and it considers the Baltic Sea "a potential theater of military operations" (see Jamestown Perspectives, May 27, 2025; see EDM, September 4, 2025).
NATO air defenses are vulnerable irrespective of whether the drones are Russian, involved in strikes against Ukraine, or Ukrainian involved in strikes against Russia. In March, drones originating from Russia crashed across all three Baltic states' territories, including one that struck a power station in Estonia (Estonian World; LRT, March 25). During the 2025 Christmas period, Polish air defense services intercepted and escorted a Russian reconnaissance plane away from international waters of the Baltic Sea (Polskie Radio, December 25, 2025). The Lithuanian government has recognized that military actions on NATO's border are more frequent and increasing due to Russia's ongoing war against Ukraine (LRT, March 25).
Rehearsing such tactics in the Baltics before implementing them elsewhere presents real threats to NATO members beyond the frontline. On April 9, U.K. and Norwegian authorities announced the disruption of a Russian military operation aimed at surveying subsea fiber-optic cables in the North Atlantic (Euronews, April 9). During the operation, a Russian attack submarine operated in and around British waters while other specialist vessels conducted nefarious activity near critical underwater infrastructure (U.K. Government, April 9). Russia has been testing this tactic in the Baltic Sea and the Arctic since at least 2021 (see EDM, February 5, 2025). In January 2025, the Silver Dania, a Russian-crewed cargo ship, was detained by Norwegian authorities for suspected acts of sabotage after reports that a fiber-optic cable linking the Swedish island of Gotland to Ventspils, Latvia, had been damaged (see EDM, February 5, 2025). Russia and the People's Republic of China (PRC) appear to be collaborating on undersea infrastructure sabotage operations.
In October 2023, damage was reported to at least three major undersea infrastructure items in the Baltic Sea, including the Balticconnector Pipeline, a 77-kilometer-long (47.8-mile-long) undersea pipeline in the Gulf of Finland connecting Finland and Estonia. Both the Russian nuclear-powered cargo ship Sevmorput and the Hong Kong-flagged Newnew Polar Bear (formerly the Baltic Fumar) were operating near the locations of the damaged pipeline and cable segments, and departed together (see China Brief, February 14, 2025). In November 2024, two Baltic undersea communications cables were cut, with indications that the PRC vessel Yipeng-3 was acting under the instructions of an unidentified Russian intelligence figure (see China Brief, February 14, 2025).
Russia is rehearsing threats and tactics against NATO by generating and exploiting vulnerabilities across the alliance's Baltic frontline under real operating conditions. Moscow can maintain deniability in its Baltic operations so long as its war against Ukraine continues. With the threat entrenched along NATO's frontline, Moscow's continued ability to derail meaningful negotiations with Ukraine creates space to extend these tactics further.
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Anna J. Davis is Fellow of Eurasia Studies at the Jamestown Foundation and a contrinuting editor of Eurasia Daily Monitor.
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Original text here: https://jamestown.org/russia-rehearsing-tactics-along-natos-baltic-frontline/
[Category: ThinkTank]
Center of the American Experiment Issues Commentary: School Boards Hold the Key to Selecting New Social Studies Curricula. Choose Wisely.
MINNETONKA, Minnesota, May 9 -- The Center of the American Experiment, a civic and educational organization that says it creates and advocates policies, issued the following commentary on May 8, 2026, by policy fellow Catrin Wigfall:
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School boards hold the key to selecting new social studies curricula. Choose wisely.
Beginning in fall 2026, every K-12 public school in Minnesota will be required to align instruction with the state's new social studies standards. School boards will have to decide how these standards, which now include ideological ethnic studies concepts, will be incorporated
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MINNETONKA, Minnesota, May 9 -- The Center of the American Experiment, a civic and educational organization that says it creates and advocates policies, issued the following commentary on May 8, 2026, by policy fellow Catrin Wigfall:
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School boards hold the key to selecting new social studies curricula. Choose wisely.
Beginning in fall 2026, every K-12 public school in Minnesota will be required to align instruction with the state's new social studies standards. School boards will have to decide how these standards, which now include ideological ethnic studies concepts, will be incorporatedinto classrooms.
School boards also have the authority and responsibility to ensure that the curriculum selected to teach the standards is academically rigorous and balanced. As the body charged with approving instructional materials, the board sets the direction for what is taught and how it is taught.
American Experiment has well documented why school boards should avoid the taxpayer-funded lesson plans from the University of Minnesota's Center for Race, Indigeneity, Disability, Gender & Sexuality Studies (RIDGS).
Another curriculum also warrants scrutiny. The Minnesota Historical Society's sixth-grade "Northern Lights" curriculum is being overhauled to meet the new social studies standards and is expected to be released summer 2026.
According to publicly available draft materials, this curriculum is less about a shared civic narrative and more an interpretation of history filtered through grievance and oppression frameworks.
For example, in Chapter 7, students learn Minnesota statehood through narratives and perspectives that "explore the concept of settler-colonialism." Settler-colonialism also appears in Chapter 10. This terminology is not politically neutral. Settler-colonialism embodies an ideological framework rooted in oppressor/oppressed binaries.
Chapters 6 and 9 ask students to "interpret" points of view that include "unequal power dynamics" in the treaty-making process and U.S.-Dakota War. Power imbalances have existed throughout history, but interpreting historical events primarily through the lens of power disparities can flatten complex historical realities, turning history from an effort to understand those complexities into an exercise in identifying systems of oppression. It also risks students projecting today's assumptions about race and privilege onto people who lived in an entirely different world.
The curriculum's recurring emphasis on identifying "absent narratives" encourages students to view history primarily through competing group grievances and power relationships. History should include multiple perspectives, but this approach risks reducing the past to a struggle between dominant and non-dominant groups.
Other chapters place heavy emphasis on identity-based perspectives, elevating group identity over a shared civic identity. This risks students seeing themselves less as individuals participating in a shared national story and more as members of demographic groups with competing historical grievances.
The problem with these frameworks and lenses is not whether difficult history should be taught but how it is taught. When grievance becomes the dominant lens, students develop a narrow understanding of their state and country. When students are guided toward predetermined interpretive conclusions, that's not teaching critical thinking. And what gets left out when grievance and power dynamics become the primary lenses to frame history? (My colleague Kathy Kersten has previously documented the many ways the Minnesota Historical Society presents one-sided history.)
The Minnesota Historical Society has already begun marketing the curriculum for the 2026-27 school year. But it is not mandated by state law. School boards are not required to use it.
School boards have a real choice before them. They can adopt one of the curricula described above and accept the interpretive frameworks embedded throughout the materials, or they can select a more balanced, constructive alternative without the political framing.
There are good options to consider. For example, the 1776 Unites' curriculum covers K-12 social studies. Hillsdale College offers a K-12 history and civics curriculum. Wilfred McClay's "Land of Hope" has a young reader's edition for middle schoolers in grades 6-8. For high schoolers, the Foundation Against Intolerance and Racism offers a constructive ethnic studies curriculum called "Many Stories, One Nation," and the Coalition for Empowered Education's "Out of Many, One" ethnic studies curriculum is another option. A two-part high school history series called, "The Golden Thread: A History of the Western Tradition" is also worth considering.
School board members should insist that any new curriculum adoption go through a full board review process -- not just administrative approval. Ask for a comparison of alternatives. Ask what the state standards actually require.
Parents have a role to play too. Ask your child's school what curriculum they plan to use for the new standards this fall. Remember, under Minnesota Statute 120B.20, you have the right to review instructional materials and can opt your child out and request alternative instruction. Most parents don't know that.
Informing school boards about quality, balanced curricula options, such as those listed above, and informing parents about their rights, can help safeguard local decision-making and keep social studies instruction focused on knowledge rather than ideology.
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Catrin Wigfall is a Policy Fellow at Center of the American Experiment.
catrin.wigfall@americanexperiment.org
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Original text here: https://www.americanexperiment.org/school-boards-hold-the-key-to-selecting-new-social-studies-curricula-choose-wisely/
[Category: ThinkTank]
Center of the American Experiment Issues Commentary: 'Free College' Program is Squeezing Higher Education Budget
MINNETONKA, Minnesota, May 9 -- The Center of the American Experiment, a civic and educational organization that says it creates and advocates policies, issued the following commentary on May 8, 2026, by economist John Phelan:
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'Free college' program is squeezing higher education budget
Last week, I mentioned how, in his final State of the State speech, Gov. Walz touted as achievements a laundry list of spending increases which, in some cases, are blowing up in the faces of state and county agencies and school districts. The universal free school meals program, for example, is now another
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MINNETONKA, Minnesota, May 9 -- The Center of the American Experiment, a civic and educational organization that says it creates and advocates policies, issued the following commentary on May 8, 2026, by economist John Phelan:
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'Free college' program is squeezing higher education budget
Last week, I mentioned how, in his final State of the State speech, Gov. Walz touted as achievements a laundry list of spending increases which, in some cases, are blowing up in the faces of state and county agencies and school districts. The universal free school meals program, for example, is now anothersource of pressure on school district budgets.
We are now seeing the same thing with higher education. KSTP reports:
"A proposed multi-million dollar shortfall in the state's proposed higher education bill could impact how your child pays for college."
"Lawmakers say increasing enrollment, partly due to the North Star Promise Program, has contributed to the financial squeeze on the Minnesota State Grant."
The North Star Promise Program is the scheme enacted by the "historic" trifecta in 2023 that provides taxpayer-funded tuition for people studying at Minnesota colleges whose families have Adjusted Gross Income below $80,000. It has led to expanded enrollments, as intended, but also to greater demands on the Minnesota State Grant.
The program has a $131 million deficit for the next two years," the Star Tribune reports:
"...which will require college students' financial aid awards to be reduced -- with some students losing their entire grant..."
"It's become a familiar refrain. This is the third consecutive year of multimillion-dollar shortfalls in the program, leaving some lawmakers scrambling to find funding while thousands of Minnesota college students wonder how much financial help they will receive the next year.
"...
"Last summer, when the deficit was $239 million, legislators made several last-minute cuts by changing who qualified for the grant and how much they got. They also boosted funding by $44.5 million, and while many were happy to see the cash infusion, students' grants were still smaller.
"In the 2024-25 academic year, the program provided grants to 76,000 low- and middle-income students attending any Minnesota college or university. Last fall, that number jumped to an estimated 88,000 students, Office of Higher Education (OHE) officials said.
"The grant has a $131 million deficit, which will require reductions in college students' financial aid awards. The North Star Promise would cover the remainder of their tuition and fees."
The Strib tells one student's story:
"Natasha Grad has been waitressing to pay her way through college for seven years and hasn't had to take out a loan yet."
"She knows she'll have to apply for one next year. And if officials make cuts to the Minnesota State Grant, the state's largest financial aid program, her debt could climb higher.
""I'm so close to being done," said Grad, 31, a Gustavus Adolphus College student who will graduate next spring. "It's really detrimental if they do do cuts to the Minnesota State Grant -- I don't know how that's going to affect my tuition here.""
Last month, I called the "historic" 2023 trifecta "that gift that keeps on taking."
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John Phelan is an Economist at the Center of the American Experiment.
john.phelan@americanexperiment.org
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Original text here: https://www.americanexperiment.org/free-college-program-is-squeezing-higher-education-budget/
[Category: ThinkTank]
Capital Research Center Issues InfluenceWatch Wrapup on May 8, 2026
WASHINGTON, May 9 -- The Capital Research Center issued the following InfluenceWatch wrapup on May 8, 2026, by Jonathan Harsh:
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InfluenceWatch, a project of Capital Research Center, is a comprehensive and ever-evolving compilation of our research into the numerous advocacy groups, foundations, and donors working to influence the public policy process. The website offers transparency into these influencers' funding, motives, and connections while providing insight often neglected by other watchdog groups.
The information compiled in InfluenceWatch gives news outlets and other interested
... Show Full Article
WASHINGTON, May 9 -- The Capital Research Center issued the following InfluenceWatch wrapup on May 8, 2026, by Jonathan Harsh:
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InfluenceWatch, a project of Capital Research Center, is a comprehensive and ever-evolving compilation of our research into the numerous advocacy groups, foundations, and donors working to influence the public policy process. The website offers transparency into these influencers' funding, motives, and connections while providing insight often neglected by other watchdog groups.
The information compiled in InfluenceWatch gives news outlets and other interestedparties research to use in reporting on significant topics that are often overlooked by the American public.
CRC is pleased to present some of the most significant additions to InfluenceWatch in the past week:
* Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center is a state think tank that promotes left-of-center economic policies such as a "millionaires' tax" on high-earning individuals. The group is a member of the State Priorities Partnership, a network of left-of-center think tanks operated by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. The Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center has received funding from the Economic Security Project, the Hopewell Fund, the New Venture Fund, the Amalgamated Charitable Foundation, Donor Advised Charitable Giving (DAFgiving360), and the Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund.
* Louisiana Against False Solutions (LAFS) is an activist coalition that supports left-of-center environmental policies within the state. Member organizations include the Center for International Environmental Law, the Sierra Club Delta Chapter, the Foundation for Louisiana, Earthworks, the Climate Reality Project, and the Center for Progressive Reform. According to the Pelican Institute for Public Policy, between 2020 and 2025 some of the largest funders of Louisiana-based LAFS member organizations included the Waverley Street Foundation, the Windward Fund, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Freedom Together Foundation, and the Amalgamated Charitable Foundation.
* Healthy Gulf is a Louisiana-based environmental advocacy group that focuses on efforts to protect communities and ecosystems along the Gulf Coast. Its grantees have included Air Alliance Houston, the Alliance for Affordable Energy, the Greater New Orleans Interfaith Climate Coalition, and the Sierra Club Foundation. In 2024, donors to Healthy Gulf included Earthworks, the Environmental Defense Fund, the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Rockefeller Family Fund, and the United States Energy Foundation.
* The Funders Network (TFN) is a membership organization that coordinates and promotes grantmaking in policy areas such as the environment, urban development, and transportation. TFN operates a fellowship program "Professionals Learning About Community, Equity and Sustainability" (PLACES) that promotes leadership focused on "racial equity and social justice," and which is funded by the Annie E. Casey Foundation. TFN has also received funding from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the Greater Washington Community Foundation, the United Philanthropy Forum, and the Resources Legacy Fund.
* Full Circle Fund is an organization that recruits working professionals to volunteer with local nonprofits that advocate for "social and environmental justice" within the California Bay Area. Founded in 2000 by now-California State Sen. Josh Becker (D), the group claims to have organized "pro bono consulting projects, issue-focused Circles, and community-led events" on education, housing, "climate justice," and "economic equity" issues within the state. The Full Circle Fund has received funding from the Laney and Pasha Thornton Foundation and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.
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Jonathan Harsh holds a master's degree in political science from James Madison University and a bachelor's degree in political science from Beloit College.
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Original text here: https://capitalresearch.org/article/influencewatch-friday-05-08-2026/
[Category: ThinkTank]
CAP Praises Hawaii Passage of Bill To Undo Effects of Citizens United, Urges Governor To Sign It Into Law
WASHINGTON, May 9 -- The Center for American Progress issued the following news release on May 8, 2026:
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CAP Praises Hawaii Passage of Bill To Undo Effects of Citizens United, Urges Governor To Sign It Into Law
Today, the Hawaii State Legislature approved a historic measure that would effectively undo the corrosive effects of the Supreme Court's 2010 Citizens United decision. The bill now heads to Gov. Josh Green's (D) desk for his signature.
The measure would redefine corporate law so that corporations are no longer granted the power to spend in the state's politics. In response, Neera
... Show Full Article
WASHINGTON, May 9 -- The Center for American Progress issued the following news release on May 8, 2026:
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CAP Praises Hawaii Passage of Bill To Undo Effects of Citizens United, Urges Governor To Sign It Into Law
Today, the Hawaii State Legislature approved a historic measure that would effectively undo the corrosive effects of the Supreme Court's 2010 Citizens United decision. The bill now heads to Gov. Josh Green's (D) desk for his signature.
The measure would redefine corporate law so that corporations are no longer granted the power to spend in the state's politics. In response, NeeraTanden, president and CEO of the Center for American Progress, issued the following statement:
Hawaii made history today in the fight against corporate and dark money that has sullied American politics for the past 16 years. Once the governor signs this measure into law, it will send a message that will be heard in legislatures far beyond the Aloha State. States can redefine the powers they grant to corporations. And they can choose not to give those corporations the power to spend money in state politics. This groundbreaking law makes Hawaii a leader in the national fight to get corporations out of politics and return power to the people.
The bill draws on a breakthrough legal strategy crafted by the Center for American Progress: States define the powers of the corporations they create, and a state's corporate code can grant every power a business needs while withholding political spending power.
What would S.B. 2471 do?
The bill redefines the powers Hawaii grants to corporations that operate within the state. The powers that Hawaii grants to corporations would no longer include the power to spend in federal, state, and local elections in Hawaii. The bill also applies to out-of-state corporations that operate within Hawaii. It does not regulate corporate speech.
Political committees remain governed by existing campaign finance law. This bill applies to corporations, limited liability companies, partnerships, and similar artificial persons--entities that operate in Hawaii only because Hawaii law creates them or empowers them to do so.
Why doesn't it violate Citizens United?
The Supreme Court in Citizens United struck down a federal regulation that prohibited an already-empowered corporation from spending its resources in elections. Neither that case nor any other has addressed whether a state must grant political spending power in the first place. Every Supreme Court case on corporate political speech has assumed the corporation already had the underlying power to spend. S.B. 2471 does not regulate that power--rather, it no longer grants it.
When would it take effect?
If passed, the new law would take effect on July 1, 2027.
What would happen if a corporation spent in Hawaii elections anyway?
The expenditure would be void because no corporation operating in Hawaii would have the power to make political expenditures. A company attempting to spend on Hawaii politics would risk revocation of its authority to do business in the state, and officers and directors who authorized the expenditure could face shareholder lawsuits and personal liability. The state's attorney general could move to revoke a corporation's charter.
Additional background on the Corporate Power Reset Plan:
* "Addressing Questions Surrounding Hawaii's Bold Move To Undo Citizens United" by Tom Moore
* "The Corporate Power Reset That Makes Citizens United Irrelevant" by Tom Moore
* "Undoing Citizens United and Reining In Super PACs" by Tom Moore
For more information on this topic or to talk to an expert, please contact Sam Hananel at shananel@americanprogress.org.
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Original text here: https://www.americanprogress.org/press/statement-cap-praises-hawaii-passage-of-bill-to-undo-effects-of-citizens-united-urges-governor-to-sign-it-into-law/
[Category: ThinkTank]
