Law Commons^™

Raising The Bar: Reducing Conflicts Of Interest And Increasing Transparency In District Attorney Campaign Fundraising, Center For The Advancement Of Public Integrity

Center for the Advancement of Public Integrity (Inactive)

The Center for the Advancement of Public Integrity at Columbia Law School (CAPI) conducted a review of the campaign fundraising practices of Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance, Jr. at his request. Our review, as described in this report, encompassed research on relevant laws, regulations, and guidelines, as well as interviews with relevant stakeholders and subject matter experts, and culminates with recommended improvements to district attorney fundraising policies and procedures that are designed to address the problems of actual conflicts of interest, potential conflicts of interest that raise appearance issues, and unconscious bias, that may arise when campaign contributors also have …

Shouting Down The Voice Of The People: Political Parties, Powerful Pac's And Concerns About Corruption, Clarisa Long

Faculty Scholarship

The Federal Election Campaign Act limits the amount of financial support that political parties may give to candidates for federal office. Clarisa Long argues that these restrictions violate political parties' First Amendment rights of speech and association. Because the flow of money in the political process is a proxy for speech, the First Amendment requires that political actors have access to at least one unrestricted avenue of communication. While individuals' and PACs' First Amendment rights are protected because they may make unrestricted independent expenditures, parties do not have this opportunity. Courts have failed to protect party speech, rationalizing that the …

Politics Across Borders: Nonintervention And Nonforcible Influence Over Domestic Affairs, Lori Fisler Damrosch

Faculty Scholarship

It is time for a fresh look at the norm of nonintervention in domestic affairs, as applied to nonforcible efforts to influence another state's internal politics. The existence of such a norm is widely proclaimed, and it is commonly assumed to be a legal obligation rather than a mere practice of comity or aspirational objective. For governments, scholars and international organs alike, the "rule" against interference in internal politics seems to be an article of faith; but despite the frequency of its incantation in international discourse, how the norm applies to nonforcible conduct is inadequately understood.

This article considers the …