Your weekly source for analysis and insight from experts at the Brennan Center for Justice
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The Briefing
I want to invite you to a special lunchtime briefing on Monday about how to make sure voters can fully participate in the 2020 election.
As we all know, the coronavirus is a health crisis and an economic crisis. Without urgent action, it will become a democracy crisis in November. Already, in Wisconsin, citizens were forced to choose between their health and their right to vote. The president has begun to loudly oppose needed changes. How can we avoid a debacle? How can we have an election that is free, fair, secure — and safe?
In a virtual discussion I will moderate, the Brennan Center’s leading election experts Wendy Weiser, Larry Norden, and Myrna Pérez will discuss how to ensure election integrity, update you on the fight in Congress, and point to what states and citizens must do next to protect the 2020 election. We’ll also discuss ways to make sure we’re never unprepared for a crisis like this again.
The Brennan Center is at the center of the fight. Last month, we released
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a comprehensive plan to ensure the safety and credibility of the election. Among its provisions: a universal option to vote by mail and expanded early voting. In the next few weeks, Congress must act to provide funding for states to run their elections. Then states must retool their systems so everyone can safely vote. It’s going to require a massive citizen mobilization to make it happen. Learn how we can all help meet this challenge. RSVP today.
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Democracy
Preparing Your State for November
To help state officials, members of Congress, and voters get ready for November, the Brennan Center has published a 50-state breakdown that shows what policies are already in place and what needs to change. Voters and advocates can use this comprehensive tool to assess how their state stacks up to our recommendations and where change is needed when it comes to voter registration, in-person voting, mail-ballot voting, and the counting of mail ballots. // Read More
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Justice
End Cash Bail, Especially in a Pandemic
Covid-19 has made strikingly clear how overcrowded U.S. jails are, a problem exacerbated by the wide use of money bail. Just as the coronavirus hit, Law Enforcement Leaders to Reduce Crime & Incarceration
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— a group of more than 200 current and former law enforcement leaders from all 50 states — was finalizing a report
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that recommends ending money bail.
“People with money can pay to get out while those with less lose their freedom before they’ve been tried and convicted,” write Ronal Serpas and Taryn Merkl, the organization’s executive director and senior counsel, respectively. “It’s un-American and disproportionately hurts people of color.” // The Appeal
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Suspend Fees and Fines During the Covid Crisis
Today many courts are effectively shuttered, while others are holding video hearings or struggling under social distancing rules. However, the enforcement of court-ordered criminal fees and fines continues in much of the country. According to a recent Brennan Center report, The Steep Costs of Criminal Justice Fees and Fines
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, funding courts and other activities with fees and fines is extremely cost ineffective and wastes resources that could be used instead to improve public safety.
“There is a lot that states, localities, and courts can do to help relieve the unfairness, especially during a pandemic and an economic downturn,” writes former Brennan Center Senior Fellow Mike Crowley. “They can start by suspending criminal fees and fines enforcement immediately.” // Read More
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Constitution
Trump Uses a Crisis Cloak for His Anti-Immigrant Agenda
Last week, President Trump went after immigrants again. A presidential proclamation temporarily barred most applicants from getting a green card, which would let them permanently live and work in the United States. Trump argued the 60-day order is needed to protect American jobs as the economy recovers from the pandemic.
But in a leaked private call with Trump supporters, White House adviser and noted xenophobe Stephen Miller said the measure isn’t just a stopgap, it’s part of the administration’s long-term vision to restrict immigration. “Given that the order aligns with administration priorities that have nothing to do with the coronavirus,” writes Harsha Panduranga, counsel in the Brennan Center’s Liberty & National Security Program, “there is a real risk that it will become permanent.” // Read More
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Remembering the Oklahoma City Bombing, 25 Years Later
Last week marked 25 years since Timothy McVeigh bombed the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. The terrorist attack, which killed 168 people, represented a climax of the militia movement of the 1990s. Right-wing extremists reemerged during the Obama administration and are very much still with us today.
“Right-wing extremism is a feature, not a bug, of modern American politics,” writes Brennan Center Fellow Andrew Cohen. “It is only a matter of time before we are forced to endure another spasm of this type of violence. Whether we weather it as nobly and strongly as we did a quarter century ago is, tragically, an open question today.” // Read More
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News
Lauren-Brooke Eisen on the impact of Covid-19 on incarcerated Black women // NBC News
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Ames Grawert on small business loans for people with criminal records // The xxxxxx
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Faiza Patel on the use of technology for contract tracing // Al Jazeera
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Myrna Pérez on how voting by mail works // Wall Street Journal
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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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