Your weekly source for analysis and insight from experts at the Brennan Center for Justice

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The Briefing

This year taught us many things about our country and the strength of its systems.

Despite a pandemic and flagrant voter suppression, 2020 was a year of tremendous gains for American democracy. It saw the highest voter turnout since 1900. Of the astonishing 159 million votes in the general election, 7 in 10 were cast early, largely because states expanded early voting and vote by mail.

But the backlash is underway. As he leaves office, President Donald Trump has persuaded many of his followers that the election was rigged. Some Republicans in key states are already pushing

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for new voting restrictions. And even though the election was successful on many fronts, there were multiple failures too, ranging from increased voter intimidation to threats against elections officials

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In 2021, Congress will have an opportunity to pass the For the People Act (H.R. 1) and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. These reforms, which would enact automatic voter registration nationwide (in case you missed it, New York

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just became the 19th state to adopt this Brennan Center–designed policy) and restore the Voting Rights Act, are crucial if we want to make voting easier instead of harder, stop racist voter suppression, and repair our broken democracy. We aim to make these bills law.

In addition to this work, the Brennan Center will fight to end mass incarceration, one of the great racial justice issues of our time. We are pleased that President-Elect Biden has proposed a plan, based on our Reverse Mass Incarceration Act

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, to use federal funds to spur states to reduce imprisonment while reducing crime. We will continue our work to stop partisan gerrymandering, outlaw immigration bans, and strengthen election security. As the new president takes office, we will work to restore checks and balances and the norms and rules that curb abuse of executive power.

Yes, the country is divided. But old partisan alignments have been upended. The new decade can be a time of reform. In 2021, the Biden administration and Congress will have the opportunity to build a more democratic, just, and free country

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. The Brennan Center is ready to play our part and fight to make the systems of democracy and justice work for all Americans.

We can create meaningful change in 2021.

Will you make a year-end donation to the Brennan Center and join us in our work to repair democracy?

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Democracy

Supreme Court Takes Wait-and-See Approach to Trump’s Anti-immigrant Census Policy

The Supreme Court has concluded that federal courts cannot yet rule on the legality of President Trump’s plan to exclude undocumented people from the census count used to distribute congressional seats to each state. The Court’s decision in Trump v. New York allows President Trump to try to implement his plan by lifting lower court rulings that previously blocked it. This latest development sets the stage for more litigation over Trump’s attempts to evade the long-standing constitutional rule that everyone counts, regardless of their citizenship status, and casts an ominous cloud over the upcoming apportionment, write Madiba Dennie and Thomas Wolf. // Read More

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2020’s Lessons for Election Security

The federal government’s cybersecurity agency called the 2020 election the “most secure in American history.” It’s good news, but it does not mean the work to protect our elections is done. “2020 offers important lessons for how to protect future elections from cyberattacks and technical failures,” write Andrea Córdova McCadney, Lawrence Norden, and Derek Tisler. They detail these lessons, including the importance of election security for voter access and the necessity of backup paper ballots, in this expert brief. // Read More

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Justice

Biden Can Reshape the Federal Death Penalty in America

President-Elect Biden says he opposes capital punishment and is ready to do something about it. He will have the power to empty federal death row, direct the Justice Department to instruct every U.S. attorney not to pursue capital charges for federal crimes, and order the completion of a death penalty study left unfinished during the Obama administration. “The central question is whether he has the political will and moral strength to exercise the power,” says Brennan Center Fellow Andrew Cohen. // Read More

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Constitution

When Police Surveillance Meets the ‘Internet of Things’

Connected devices such as doorbell cameras, smart thermostats, and digital assistants add eyes and ears around our homes, inside our cars, and on our bodies. Police have already come calling for information generated by this so-called internet of things, with significant privacy implications for Americans. “In a world where people are subjected to ongoing surveillance by public and private actors, there is an urgent need to update regulatory frameworks and rethink privacy protections to account for the inescapable role of technology companies in everyday life,” writes Ángel Díaz. // Read More

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Police Shouldn’t Tag Students as Potential Criminals

In a disturbing example of predictive policing taken to extremes, a county police department has created a secret list of kids it thinks could “fall into a life of crime.” According to documents revealed by the Tampa Bay Times, students can be labeled as “at-risk youth who are destined to a life of crime” if they get a D in a class, have three absences in a quarter, get a single discipline referral, or have experienced childhood trauma. “If a list like this existed when I was a teacher in East Baltimore, the vast majority of my students would have been placed on it ... because the combined forces of concentrated poverty, institutionalized racism, and decades-long disinvestment make hitting at least one of these indicators almost unavoidable,” writes Priyam Madhukar. // Read More

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News

Michael German on white supremacists in law enforcement // Foreign Affairs

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Rachel Levinson-Waldman on cell phone surveillance tools // The Intercept

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Michael Li on redistricting battles in Texas // KERA

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Sean Morales-Doyle on automatic voter registration in New York // WNYC

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Joseph Nunn on martial law // Politifact

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Myrna Pérez on how Americans were failed in the 2020 election // The Hill

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Yurij Rudensky on partisanship and redistricting // Bloomberg

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Thomas Wolf on SCOTUS’s census decision // Forbes

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Have an issue you'd like us to cover? Feedback on this newsletter? Email us at

[email protected]

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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

120 Broadway, Suite 1750

New York, NY 10271

T 646 292 8310

F 212 463 7308

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