Last week, the House passed the For the People Act (H.R. 1), the greatest civil rights bill since the civil rights movement itself. Now it’s up to the Senate to pass this transformative bill, which would fundamentally transform our democratic institutions to benefit everyone, especially those most impacted by our democracy’s historical failings. Its reforms, such as automatic and same-day voter registration, nationwide early voting, small donor public financing, and an end to partisan gerrymandering, will help us move toward an inclusive democracy. In a year rich with historic symbolism — the first time a woman has held national office, the first time a Confederate flag was walked through the U.S. Capitol — the bill could not come at a more fitting moment.

Joe Biden was the first Democratic presidential candidate to win Georgia since 1992, and Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock were the first Democratic senators to win the Peach State since 1996. Now, Georgia Republicans have introduced regressive legislation that would eliminate automatic voter registration in the state, end early voting on Sundays, and make voting by mail far more difficult. Voter suppression is always unacceptable, and these blatant attempts by Georgia Republicans will disproportionately hurt Black voters.

We approach the 50-day mark of the Biden administration this week without the nomination of a single federal judge. According to Brennan Center Fellow Andrew Cohen, it’s disconcerting. There’s a narrow window in which the White House must operate to get the judges it wants on the bench — the loss of a single Democratic senator would allow Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and his obstructionist cohorts to stymie nominations. President Biden simply cannot allow that to happen.

Once an election has taken place and the votes have been tallied, there is no emergency power that enables a losing incumbent to stay in the White House. But in the weeks leading up to President Biden’s inauguration, Donald Trump’s supporters urged him to take various drastic measures to overturn the election results, including declaring a national emergency, imposing martial law, and “temporarily suspending the Constitution.” It was important to not let these conversations distract from the transition, but now that the transfer of power is complete, we need to talk about why none of these plots would have worked.

Prisons and jails across the United States have a history of failing pregnant women who are incarcerated — one need only look to the practice of shackling them during delivery to understand the physical and psychological tolls. Pregnant women are already among the most vulnerable in the prison system. With Covid-19 adding a deadly dimension to this problem, they must be prioritized for vaccination.

Time in prison can mark the difference between escapable and inescapable poverty. And with more than 40,000 people behind bars and 337,000 New Yorkers who have spent time in prison at some point in their lives... Read more on Instagram >>

Debate Defends Democracy: Senate Power v. The Majority
Tuesday, March 16 | 5:30 p.m.–6:30 p.m. ET
With increasing frequency over the past two decades, the political preferences of a majority of Americans have been subverted in the legislative process by the will of a shrinking minority. CNN Senior Political Analyst John Avlon is joined by Norman Ornstein, emeritus scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, and Brennan Center Fellow Victoria Bassetti to discuss the distortion of power and representation in the Senate and its impact on American democracy. RSVP today.

Debate Defends Democracy is presented by the National Parks of New York Harbor Conservancy at Federal Hall in partnership with New York University and the National Park Service.

How Rights Went Wrong with Jamal Greene
Thursday, March 25 | 12:00 p.m.–1:00 p.m. ET
How is it that corporations can spend unlimited sums in our elections, but a Black defendant has no right to a ruling free of racial bias? Why does a company have the right to sell private prescription data, but marginalized children don’t have the right to an adequate public education? In his new book, How Rights Went Wrong: Why Our Obsession with Rights Is Tearing America Apart, constitutional scholar Jamal Greene argues that courts should reconcile competing rights, not discriminate between them. In this conversation, he’ll discuss how the United States became so “rightsist,” and how we can shift this paradigm to truly ensure justice, once and for all. RSVP today.

This event is produced in partnership with New York University’s John Brademas Center.

Jennifer Weiss-Wolf, development vice president and women and democracy fellow, recommends “America is Not Made for Anatomically Correct People.” The article tackles the very unglamorous issue of public toilets and makes the case they’re essential to meaningful infrastructure reform. Says Jen, author of the book Periods Gone Public: “Part of ensuring equity for all is full and fair consideration of seemingly neutral experiences, especially when those intersect with things that cause shame or carry stigma. Beyond being an infrastructure issue, bathrooms are the hallmark of a humane society, a core component of civic engagement and, quite frankly, essential to democracy.”