More than 100 of the nation's top corporate leaders met virtually on Saturday to discuss ways for companies to continue responding to the passage of more restrictive voting laws across the country, a signal that the nation's premier businesses are preparing a far more robust, organized response to the ongoing debate... "The gathering was an enthusiastic voluntary statement of defiance against threats of reprisals for exercising their patriotic voices," said Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, a Yale University management professor who helped organize the confab.  

... The nonpartisan Brennan Center, which has been tracking voting law proposals across the country, found that lawmakers in 47 states have introduced 361 bills that would restrict voting access.

... Organizers also stressed that the meeting was being put together long before Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell last week angrily denounced and criticized corporate leaders he said were being misled by Democratic arguments against the new laws... Attendees included Arthur Blank, owner of the NFL's Atlanta Falcons; James Murdoch and his wife, Kathryn Hufschmid; Adam Aron, CEO of AMC Theatres; Brad Karp, chairman of the law firm Paul, Weiss; Mellody Hobson, co-CEO of Ariel Investments; Doug McMillon, CEO of Walmart; Scott Kirby, CEO of United Airlines; Doug Parker, CEO of American Airlines; Chip Bergh, chairman of Levi Strauss Company; Reid Hoffman, CEO of LinkedIn, multiple people familiar with the meeting told CBS News. 

... "We invited 120 CEO's with about 50 hours notice. We were praying for 25 and we got 90 CEO's and another 30 invited guests including legal experts, technology experts and historians," Sonnenfeld said.