A decade ago, the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision opened the way for essentially unchecked political spending by megadonors and corporate interests. In the 2016 presidential race, fewer than 5,000 donors provided more than half of all campaign funding, while money from the 5 million donors who gave less than $200 made up just over one-fifth of donations.

But there is a powerful antidote. For decades, presidential campaigns benefitted from a system of public financing. It has withered and is now unused. A modernized approach could fight the corrosive effects of today’s money system, write the Brennan Center’s Hazel Millard and Joanna Zdanys: “Public financing … won’t stop big spending in elections. But it can pave the way for candidates — and voters — to counter the influence of big money.” // Read More

When does government have the power to put an individual under surveillance? A reform enacted in the 1970s, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, requires the government to show probable cause to a special court that the target is a foreign power or agent of a foreign power. The aftermath of the Trump-Russia investigation called that into question. The Justice Department’s inspector general in December showed deep flaws in the protections offered. The IG suggested that corner-cutting and application-padding are par for the course in FISA applications.

The Brennan Center’s Elizabeth Goitein urges steps to better notify targets of surveillance and to boost internal oversight of the FISA process. // Read More

• Chisun Lee and Lawrence Norden on New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s flip-flopping on public financing // New York Daily News
• Harsha Panduranga on the fight against Trump’s Muslim ban // The Hill
• Yurij Rudensky on nonpartisan redistricting reforms in New Hampshire // New Hampshire Union Leader
• Wendy Weiser on voting rights across states in 2020 // Pew