Your weekly source for analysis and insight from experts at the Brennan Center for Justice
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The Briefing
America faces a racial justice crisis and a democracy crisis. Often, they’re the same thing.
Over the weekend, we saw the death of another Black man at the hands of the police. The facts, and ample video evidence, suggest that the police officer who shot Rayshard Brooks in a parking lot in Atlanta did so not out of fear, but aggression. It was more searing proof of the urgent need for a top-to-bottom rethinking of the role of police in our society.
This week, the House will likely vote on a police reform bill. It has much that is very strong, including a ban on racial profiling and a national police misconduct registry. But there are also aspects that don’t go far enough or aren’t mentioned at all. It doesn’t strictly limit the transfer of military equipment to police, and constraints on police use of intrusive surveillance technology are left out altogether. It is, however, a start, and one that is far superior to the president’s cosmetic reforms. On Friday, the Brennan Center urged
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Congress to support the bill.
Just days before Brooks’s death we saw another cause for outrage in Georgia. During the state’s primary, voters waited in long lines to vote, sometimes for hours, because of election problems. Predominantly Black areas were reported to have had some of the most severe problems. The voting meltdown was “a hot, flaming ... mess
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,” said Nse Ufot, executive director of the New Georgia Project.
Hard facts confirm that Black and Latino voters wait markedly longer than white voters even under the best of conditions. In our recent report, Waiting to Vote: Racial Disparities in Election Day Experiences
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, we found that in 2018, Black voters waited 45 percent longer than white voters while Latino voters waited 46 percent longer than white voters. That’s unconscionable.
The pandemic will only make these racial disparities worse in November if we don't get ready. That includes the funding that the House passed, of course, and more. The report points to some remedies, like limiting polling place closures and expanding language assistance, but Congress must give states and localities the $4 billion they desperately need so a far more consequential meltdown doesn’t occur on November 3.
To make progress on criminal justice, every eligible voter must be able to vote. Otherwise these twin interlocking crises will continue to undermine the American project — and harm Black Americans most.
Democracy
America Finally Sees What Its Black Citizens Always Knew
Brennan Center Fellow Ted Johnson took his personal story and a call for action to an unexpected venue: the venerable conservative publication National Review. “An obsession with modes of racial protests rather than with the meaning of them belies an unwillingness to face the flaws they expose in the nation’s ability to live up to its ideals and fulfill its obligations to the citizenry,” Johnson writes. “If we are to capitalize on the present crisis to strengthen America … we are duty-bound to grapple with the abiding sense of injustice that is felt in Black America and fuels civil unrest today, just as it has for centuries.” // National Review
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Voting and Protesting Go Hand in Hand — and There Are Barriers to Both
Structural barriers to the ballot box have undermined voting rights for many of the most marginalized Americans, which is why some feel compelled to march — it’s the only way their voices can truly be heard. “Voter suppression falls heavily on communities already burdened by policing, arrests, and felony convictions,” writes Kevin Morris. “Given the racially concentrated nature of policing and incarceration, this means that some communities see their political power seriously reduced relative to others.” // Read More
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How Trump Could Subvert the Election
Opponents of President Trump are starting to go public with their fear that he will refuse to accept the legitimacy of an electoral defeat or use some extralegal means to stay in power. While there’s good reason for the concern, it’s far likelier that if Trump stays in power illegitimately, it will be by undermining the electoral process through a mix of old-fashioned voter suppression and misinformation. “What makes these scenarios particularly dangerous is that they might not set off the alarms they should,” writes Brennan Center Fellow Zachary Roth. // Read More
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Justice
What the Federal Government Can Do to Help Fix Policing in America
In 2019, 1,100 Americans were killed by police. Black people represented 24 percent of those killed, despite making up only 13 percent of the population. While policing is inherently local, “federal oversight of police departments can be a significant tool for helping police departments examine and reform how their officers interact with the community,” write Lauren-Brooke Eisen and Spencer Boyer. “The need for change is so vast that it is a national project.” // READ MORE
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A Step Toward Police Accountability in New York
Last week, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed the repeal of the inaptly named Civil Rights Law 50-A, which kept police misconduct records hidden from the public. “Without 50-A in the way, law enforcement agencies and police departments across the state should release as much information as possible regarding uses of force and sensitive incidents to ensure effective oversight by the public and elected officials,” writes Taryn Merkl. // Read More
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Constitution
Trump’s Abuse of Emergency Powers
Last week, Trump declared another national emergency, this time because of — wait for it — the International Criminal Court’s efforts to hold members of the U.S. military and CIA accountable for alleged war crimes committed in Afghanistan. This is a grotesque abuse of emergency powers, and “however Trump tries to frame this, he is saying that the prospect of U.S. personnel being held accountable for war crimes is a national emergency,” writes Elizabeth Goitein. “The war crimes themselves? Not so much.” // Read More
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New York City Council to Vote on NYPD Surveillance Oversight Act
This week, the New York City Council is expected to vote on the POST Act, a long-delayed bill that would require the NYPD to disclose its surveillance tools and the steps taken to protect the privacy and civil rights of New Yorkers. “In a time where New Yorkers are coming together to protest the over-policing of communities of color, it’s essential that we have oversight and accountability over NYPD surveillance to prevent an era of digital stop-and-frisk.” says Ángel Díaz. // Reuters
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News
Ángel Díaz on Amazon’s yearlong ban on police use of its face recognition technology // AP
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Spencer Boyer on the international dimension of calls for racial justice // European Council on Foreign Relations
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Michael German on the lack of evidence that antifa is linked to violence at protests // Reuters
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Rachel Levinson-Waldman on police body cameras at protests and privacy concerns // CNET
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Michael Li on preparing for the 2020 election // Fox News
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Raúl Macías on what the North Carolina Legislature can do ahead of the November election ) // NC Policy Watch
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Myrna Pérez on the long lines at the Georgia primaries // CNN
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Wendy Weiser on voting by mail // NBC Nightly News
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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.
Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law
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