Weekly analysis and insight from Brennan Center experts

[link removed]

The Briefing

Two weeks ago, the Supreme Court blocked the Trump administration’s effort to put a citizenship question on the 2020 census. Last week, the Commerce Department began printing census forms. But Trump announced by tweet that he would still include the question, and now administration officials are scrambling to find increasingly far-fetched options to force its inclusion. Last week, Trump said he’ll consider using an executive order to get his way. Sunday, the Justice Department announced it was installing a new team of lawyers to represent the administration in the ongoing litigation over the census. And Monday, Attorney General William Barr announced that he plans to announce an as-yet unrevealed new “approach” to doing the president’s bidding.

While these efforts are implausible, the fact that the debate continues is itself a threat to public trust in the census, said Thomas Wolf, counsel in the Brennan Center’s Democracy Program. “Even if the question is taken off, if people are tweeting as if it may be a real possibility, it continues to raise fears and depress the count among immigrants and people of color,” he said. // READ MORE ([link removed])

Democracy

Florida Faces Intense Legal Battle over Voter Rights Restoration

A new Florida law requires residents with felony records to pay all financial penalties connected to their sentence — or have these penalties excused by a judge or converted to community service hours — before they can have their voting rights restored. The Brennan Center and other groups filed a federal lawsuit hours after Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the bill into law. The measure undermines the will of Florida voters, who approved Amendment 4 in November 2018, a historic ballot measure that restored voting rights to as many as 1.4 million residents with a past felony conviction who have completed their sentences. // VOX ([link removed])

New York State Appoints Commission to Establish Small Donor Public Financing

Leaders in Albany have named the commissioners charged with designing a public financing program for New York State elections that incentivizes candidates to seek more small donations. If the commission does its job, the state will have a small donor public financing system, the most significant campaign finance reform in the United States since Citizens United. The appointment follows the New York State Assembly and Senate’s April passage of a budget bill that established the commission, which is charged with creating a small donor public financing program for statewide and state legislative offices by the end of 2019. // READ MORE ([link removed])

News

- Michael German on the FBI’s relative leniency toward far-right nativist militants // THE INTERCEPT ([link removed])

- Michael German and Emmanuel Mauleón on how criminal justice reform can combat far-right terror // SALON ([link removed])

- Kelly Percival on the Justice Department’s reversal on the census citizenship question // ABC ([link removed])

- Thomas Wolf on the Trump administration’s attempt to force the inclusion of a census citizenship question // CNN ([link removed]) // WASHINGTON POST ([link removed])

Have an issue you'd like us to cover? Feedback on this newsletter? Email us at [email protected]
mailto:[email protected]

[link removed]

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
120 Broadway, Suite 1750
New York, NY 10271
T 646 292 8310
F 212 463 7308

[email protected]
mailto:[email protected]

Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can update your preferences.
[link removed]

Want to stop receiving these emails?
Click here to unsubscribe.
[link removed]

[link removed]
[link removed]
[link removed]
[link removed]