Your weekly source for analysis and insight from experts at the Brennan Center for Justice
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The Briefing
With America shutting down and a recession all but certain, the Senate is in intense negotiations over the stimulus bill to respond to the pandemic. The amount of money is staggering — approximately $2 trillion — but essential.
One critical part of the negotiations is allocating enough money to protect the 2020 election. Last week, the Brennan Center published
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a policy analysis estimating how much it will cost to ensure that every vote is counted in spite of coronavirus come November.
Our number: $2 billion.
We came to that figure based on our detailed plan
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to ensure free, fair, and accessible elections amid the pandemic. Our proposal has been endorsed by the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights
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and over 900 U.S. political scientists
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The money would go, among other things, to expanding vote-by-mail options, expanding online voter registration, and making in-person voting safe.
Congressional Republicans came to the negotiation agreeing to spend only $140 million for this vital purpose. Failure to provide adequate funds could jeopardize the coming election.
In a letter
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to Congress on Sunday night, over 40 local elections officials from both parties pleaded for Congress to appropriate enough money to help them fulfill their daunting responsibilities. Their message couldn’t have been any clearer. Republican leadership needs to ante up.
“$140 million is a start,” they write, “but it is simply not enough to give all local election officials the support needed to plan and pay for the changes that will be necessary for elections in light of how COVID-19 is creating new norms that cannot be ignored as we continue forward.”
Right now, the Brennan Center’s Washington office is lobbying around the clock to ensure Congress does the right thing. To do otherwise would undermine the security and resiliency of the very system that guarantees we remain a free people. Our country has never missed an election, even during the Civil War. Now is not the time to tempt fate.
For all Brennan Center content related to the coronavirus crisis, click here
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Democracy
Courts’ Responses to the Covid-19 Crisis
The Brennan Center is compiling the formal policy responses of federal courts, immigration courts, and state courts to the Covid-19 crisis. Thus far, they have varied substantially across jurisdictions, with policies ranging from carrying on business as usual to closing courthouses and suspending in-person proceedings indefinitely. As courts adopt new policies, this page will be updated regularly. // Read More
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A Pandemic, an Election, and a Census
“Disinformation can be toxic in an election, damaging to an accurate census count, and potentially deadly in a viral pandemic,” writes Brennan Center Fellow Ciara Torres-Spelliscy. In our digital age, social media platforms like Facebook play a key role in making sure facts reach people — but on Facebook, disinformation is rampant, and politicians are even allowed to lie in paid political ads on the platform. Here’s how Facebook’s laissez faire policies spread disinformation and threaten our democracy. // Read More
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Justice
What Does 'Public Safety' Mean During a Pandemic?
The U.S. criminal justice system is reacting too slowly to the threat the coronavirus poses to the millions of people who are imprisoned, held in pretrial detention around the country, and all the people who interact with them on a regular basis. While some prosecutors and sheriffs are taking steps toward safety, more must be done to keep incarcerated people — and the rest of us — safe.
“The spread of the virus, and the fear of what it will do behind bars, hasn’t unearthed the vast gulf that exists within the criminal justice system. It has merely exposed it,” writes Brennan Center Fellow Andrew Cohen. // Read More
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Constitution
The Stark Contrast Between Trump's Two Emergencies
Since taking office, President Trump has declared two significant national emergencies under the obscure National Emergencies Act. The first was a political ploy to fulfill his campaign promise of a border wall. The second was a delayed response to a real emergency: the present pandemic. “What the contrast between the border wall emergency and the coronavirus emergency teaches us is simple: Reforming the law to limit its reach to real emergencies and appropriate powers is both possible and necessary,” writes the Brennan Center’s Elizabeth Goitein. // Washington Post
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The Justice Department’s Chilling Proposal
Last week, the Justice Department floated a chilling proposal to Congress: grant federal court chief judges the power to indefinitely detain people without trial during the pandemic. The ability to go before a judge and contest your detention, known as habeas corpus, is a cornerstone of Anglo-American law and a critical check against government abuse.
In previous times of national calamity, habeas corpus has been suspended or circumvented with disastrous consequences, like Japanese internment during World War II and the roundup of mostly Muslim, Arab, and South Asian men after 9/11. “We must demand Congress not forget those lessons,” writes Brennan Center Fellow Caroline Fredrickson. That’s true especially during an administration known for its autocratic tendencies. // Washington Post
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News
Alicia Bannon on partisanship and judicial legitimacy // Roll Call
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Max Feldman and Elizabeth Howard on elections during Covid-19 // American Constitution Society podcast
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Elizabeth Goitein on how the Pentagon can help during Covid-19 // Vox
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Lawrence Norden how much it will cost to make elections coronavirus-ready // The Hill
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Myrna Pérez on emergency planning for elections // Rolling Stone
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Wendy Weiser on mail-in voting security // Talking Points Memo
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Have an issue you'd like us to cover? Feedback on this newsletter? Email us at
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The Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law is a nonpartisan law and policy institute that works to reform, revitalize – and when necessary defend – our country’s systems of democracy and justice.
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