Donna Gratehouse, who blogs at Democratic Diva and elsewhere on all things Arizona, sends us this.

The past few weeks have not been kind to the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). and it couldn't happen to a more deserving bunch of people. Rising GOP superstar and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is in furious denial and damage control mode over multiple reports of the striking resemblance of bills he is pushing in his state to ALEC model legislation. A nationwide petition effort by Color of Change to persuade major corporations to drop their support of ALEC appears to be wildly successful, with companies such as Coke, Pepsi, Kraft Foods and others saying adios to the organization.

Color of Change chose ALEC's attacks on the voting rights of minorities as a main issue for its campaign because it is one of the most insidious ways that ALEC achieves its harmful goals. And my state, Arizona, has been at the forefront of ALEC's voter suppression agenda.

Carrying signs that say “Don’t Shoot Me,” activists from civil and human rights groups, unions, community organizations and faith groups, inlcuding AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Elizabeth Shuler, will protest at noon tomorrow at the Washington, D.C., headquarters of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). The activists will demand that ALEC, the corporate-sponsored author of model state legislation, including Florida’s “Stand Your Ground” or “Kill at Will” law being used to justify the killing of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in Sanford, disclose funding it receives from the National Rifle Association (NRA) and stop promoting this legislation in other states.

Guess who's behind Florida's "Stand Your Ground" law that's been spotlighted since the Feb. 26 fatal shooting of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in Sanford, Fla., by a neighborhood watch volunteer?

The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), at the behest of the National Rifle Association. ALEC is the corporate-funded boiler room churning out model legislation attacking collective bargaining rights, voting rights and more that's being adopted by states with Republican-led legislatures.

Ryan J. Reilly at Talking Points Memo has the story.

Today, the U.S. Department of Justice blocked a Texas law requiring voters to present photo IDs, saying it would disproportionately affect Latinos. A letter from the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division to Texas election officials said data from the state show:

...a Hispanic registered voter is at least 46.5 percent, and potentially 120.0 percent, more likely than a non-Hispanic registered voter to lack this identification. Even using the data most favorable to the state, Hispanics disproportionately lack either a driver’s license or a personal identification card issued by DPS, and that disparity is statistically significant.

This week in New Orleans, some 2,000 state legislators are being wined, dined and given their legislative battle plans by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) to push a corporate agenda and undermine workers’ rights. The Koch brothers-funded and corporate-backed ALEC generates model legislation for right-wing grassroots activists and funds their attacks on workers’ rights, public employees and more.