This morning, the Supreme Court made clear that no president is above the law when it comes to criminal subpoenas for private information. The Court also held that Congress has the authority to subpoena a president’s records, even as it put limits on lawmakers’ ability to do so. This was the first time the high court considered whether Congress can compel presidents to produce records, and it gave Congress new weight behind its constitutional authority.

In the last 20 years, law enforcement officials with alleged connections to white supremacy or other far-right militant activities have been exposed. While this is only a small percentage of officers, the national security and public safety harms that police officers affiliated with violent white supremacist or far-right militant groups cannot be overstated. Any law enforcement officers who are part of these groups should be treated as a matter of urgent concern.

Instead of holding officers accountable and focusing on white supremacy, law enforcement agencies like the FBI are focusing on the new generation of Black activists. Throughout its history, the FBI has used its ample investigative powers not to suppress violence, but to inhibit the speech and association rights of Black activists. And its reaction to the protests following the police killings of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd shows little has changed — even though so far, the most apparent protest violence that falls within the FBI’s jurisdiction is coming from the police.

On Monday, the Supreme Court unanimously held that states may fine or remove “faithless electors” — members of the Electoral College who vote for a presidential candidate other than the one they’ve pledged to support. This is a welcome ruling, but it’s important to note that the Electoral College is still an undemocratic and racist institution.

The Electoral College gives tremendous political power to voters in swing states, wastes millions of votes in reliably red or blue states, and frequently allows the popular vote loser to come out victorious. And more than two centuries after it was designed to empower southern whites, the Electoral College continues to dilute the political power of Black voters.

When a crisis hits the United States, the “war on terror” playbook is often pulled out for answers. Civil unrest resulting from police brutality and racism is met with calls to treat protesters as domestic terrorists. Combatting the coronavirus is “war.” Schools looking to stop shootings turn to FBI programs for finding potential terrorists. When these strategies are used, due process, transparency, and fundamental rights of speech, assembly, and privacy all suffer, hitting communities of color especially hard. We need to design fitting responses to these crises.

Donald Trump, with the help of Mitch McConnell, has loudly and proudly packed the federal courts with white male judges. He has filled about 30 percent of the positions in the country’s federal appeals courts. Not a single one of his 53 confirmed appeals court nominees is Black, and only one is Latino. No matter who wins in November, decades from now many of the federal judges Trump and McConnell rammed through the Senate will still be serving, issuing definitive legal rulings in a country that looks less like them every single day.

The June primaries were the latest indicators that voters are flocking to absentee and voting by mail in record numbers. And yet, most states were unprepared to meet the spike in demand. Several voters who requested absentee ballots didn’t receive them with enough time to get them postmarked before the voting deadline, if they received them at all. Rather than arguing over whether to expand mail voting, we should accept that it’s happening and do everything possible to make sure states are prepared to run credible, safe, and fair elections this year.

Grand statements made by many companies in support of the Black Lives Matter movement are belied by a sorry history of not following through on good intentions when it comes to workers of color. Their failure is one of longstanding and aggressive opposition to fixing the core defects of our labor and employment laws. Until companies like Walmart, Uber, and Lyft commit to paying all of their employees a fair wage and provide unemployment insurance, overtime, and health care, we should write off all their pronouncements as just a brand update and nothing more.

Historian Julian Zelizer on Newt Gingrich’s Partisan Legacy
Monday, July 13 | 12:00–1:00 p.m. EDT | This is a virtual event.
When Donald Trump was elected in 2016, President Obama observed that Trump “is not an outlier; he is a culmination, a logical conclusion of the rhetoric and tactics of the Republican Party.” In his new book, Burning Down the House: Newt Gingrich, The Fall of a Speaker, and the Rise of the New Republican Party, Julian Zelizer pinpoints the moment when our country was set on a path toward an era of bitterly partisan and ruthless politics, ignited by Newt Gingrich and his allies. From the Contract with America to the rise of the Tea Party and the Trump presidential campaign, Gingrich’s fingerprints can be seen throughout some of the most divisive episodes in contemporary American politics. He’ll be joined by CNN’s New Day host Alisyn Camerota. RSVP today.

PODCAST: Listen to Brennan Center Live’s newest episode, Martin Garbus and the Cuban Five.

What We’re Reading
Theodore Johnson, director of the Brennan Center’s Fellows Program, recommends Why the Larger Climate Movement Is Finally Embracing the Fight Against Environmental Racism. It discusses the ways communities of color face heightened environmental risks that cause serious health issues, and the larger environmental movement’s history of leaving environmental justice activists out.