Inside Political Law

Updates on developments in campaign finance, lobbying & government ethics law

Subscribe
Visit Blog

Blog Authors

Inside Political Law Staff
David Bender
Perrin Cooke
Yaron Dori
Andrew Garrahan
Kevin Glandon
Mathias Heller
Anthony Herman
Peter B. Hutt II
Jasmine Jennings
Peter Koski
Pooja Shah Kothari
Russell Kott
Alex Langton
Derek Lawlor
Susan Leahy
Robert Lenhard
Michael M. Lloyd
Muftiah M. McCartin
Mary McCullough
Gabe Neville
Brendan Parets
Zachary G. Parks
Lisa Peets
Kimberly Railey
Morgan Schreurs
Matthew Shapanka
Darcy Slayton
Brian D. Smith
Angelle Smith Baugh
William Sokolove
Elizabeth Upton
Michael Wagner

Latest from Inside Political Law

Trade associations, 501(c)(4) social welfare organizations, other outside groups that pay for political advertisements, and their donors now have more answers to long-running questions regarding when donations to these groups are publicly reportable.  After postponing consideration of the issue during its previous meeting, the Federal Election Commission (“FEC”) approved Wednesday an interim final rule on…

The 2021 report from the Government Accountability Office (“GAO”) offers new details on the landscape of Lobbying Disclosure Act (“LDA”) compliance and enforcement.  The report is based on random audits of lobbyists’ filings and analysis of enforcement by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia (“USAO”).

The report included several trends GAO identified…

The House Judiciary Committee Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties held a hearing on Tuesday on potential reform of the Foreign Agents Registration Act (“FARA”), the first FARA hearing by the House Judiciary Committee in over 30 years.

FARA is an arcane statute that requires “agents of foreign principals” engaged in certain…

Corporations, trade associations, non-profits, other organizations, and individuals face significant penalties and reputational harm if they violate state laws governing corporate and personal political activities, the registration of lobbyists, lobbying reporting, or the giving of gifts or items of value to government officials or employees. To help organizations and individuals comply with these rules, Covington…

Companies doing business with state and local governments or operating in regulated industries are subject to a dizzying array of “pay-to-play” rules. These rules effectively prohibit company executives and employees (and in some cases, their family members) from making certain personal political contributions. Even inadvertent violations can be dangerous: a single political contribution can, for…

Yesterday, the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol filed a highly consequential brief in ongoing litigation relating to a subpoena seeking documents involving attorney John Eastman’s alleged participation in efforts to thwart Congress’s certification of the results of the 2020 Presidential election.  Not surprisingly, the Select Committee’s…

The Department of Justice’s FARA Unit released several new advisory opinions today interpreting the Foreign Agents Registration Act (“FARA”) and its regulations.  While the newly published opinions addressed a number of topics, the FARA Unit’s scrutiny of the activity of nonprofits was a prominent and recurring theme.

Many nonprofits, think tanks, universities, religious organizations, educational…