Donald Trump faces impeachment for inciting an insurrection. Two senators who contributed to the chaos by raising objections to Electoral College votes now face Ethics Committee investigations. And some members of Congress stand accused of leading reconnaissance tours for the rioters. Who funded these elected officials and their campaigns? Brennan Center Fellow Ciara Torres-Spelliscy takes a look at the super PACs that helped incite the insurrection and the corporations that funded them.

Fourteen months ago, Joe Biden spoke without any visible security to about 125 voters in a high school cafeteria in Iowa. That was a world where no one could imagine the pandemic, let alone a violent mob invading the Capitol. So many things may never be the same after January 6 — and Brennan Center Fellow Walter Shapiro worries that one of the major lasting effects could be the permanent destruction of the personal relationship between elected leaders and the people they serve.

The filibuster has made the Senate a graveyard of new ideas. It doesn’t spur cooperation or bipartisan dealmaking — it just lets a fraction of the minority party stop anything from happening. It has played a shameful role in blocking progress for civil rights, and we must make sure it does not reprise that role in today’s struggles for voting rights, democracy reform, criminal justice reform, and the other steps the country urgently needs. It’s time to abolish the filibuster.

On his first day in office, President Biden reversed Donald Trump’s bans on immigrants from predominantly Muslim and African countries. The repeal paves the way for thousands of people to be reunited with their loved ones and is a strong rejection of the overt racial and religious bigotry that defined the Trump presidency. It’s an important action, but only a first step. The damage stemming from the past administration’s targeting of immigrants won’t be undone overnight.

This month, the House introduced the For the People Act as the first bill of the new session. The legislation would be the most significant democracy reform in more than half a century, incorporating key measures that are urgently needed: automatic voter registration to modernize our elections, small donor public financing to curb the corrupting role of big money, an end to partisan gerrymandering, and more. At the Brennan Center, we believe that the best way to defend democracy is to strengthen it.

Bad Partners: Why Local Law Enforcement Should Leave FBI Joint Terrorism Task Forces
Thursday, February 11 | 5:00 p.m.–6:00 p.m. ET
FBI Joint Terrorism Task Forces (JTTFs) inflict harm on local communities through racial profiling, harassment, suspicionless surveillance and investigations, and exploitation of immigration enforcement, all of which are authorized under federal guidelines loosened after 9/11. The FBI relies on the labor of state and local law enforcement officers assigned to the JTTFs, who agree to follow federal guidelines even if they conflict with state and local law. Civil rights advocates and community groups have organized successful campaigns to demand that their city governments hold local police accountable to local laws and ultimately withdraw from the JTTFs. Advocates from these campaigns, including Zahra Billoo (CAIR-SFBA executive director), Javeria Jamil (Asian Americans Advancing Justice/Asian Law Caucus staff attorney), and Brandon Mayfield (Oregon lawyer and activist), will share their experience with Brennan Center Fellow Mike German. This event is produced in partnership with New York University’s John Brademas Center. RSVP today.

America's Broken Legal System
Wednesday, February 17 | 6:00 p.m.–7:00 p.m. ET
Too often, the criminal justice system compels innocent people to plead guilty. It disproportionately incarcerates Black and brown Americans, often for relatively minor offenses. Meanwhile, high-level executives are rarely prosecuted or held accountable for more serious crimes. Jed S. Rakoff, a federal trial judge and an expert on white-collar crime, examines these and other paradoxes in a new book, Why the Innocent Plead Guilty and the Guilty Go Free: And Other Paradoxes of Our Broken Legal System. He will be joined by Hernandez Stroud, counsel in the Brennan Center’s Justice Program, to discuss the shortcomings of the country’s legal system and propose paths to reform. This event is produced in partnership with New York University’s John Brademas Center. RSVP today.

Harsha Panduranga, counsel in the Brennan Center’s Liberty & National Security Program, recommends “Storming the Capitol Was About Maintaining White Power in America.” The article reviews research on white supremacy and connects it to the January 6 insurrection.