Your weekly source for analysis and insight from experts at the Brennan Center for Justice
The Briefing
A federal judge has limited the application of a Florida law that stops people from voting if they can’t pay money owed in relation to past felony convictions. The Friday decision was a major blow to the governor and legislature’s bid to undermine a 2018 ballot measure that restored voting rights for over 1 million people who have been released from prison.
The ruling applies only to the plaintiffs in the lawsuit brought by the Brennan Center and other groups, but it establishes a clear principle: the state cannot deny people the right to vote on account of wealth. The court’s decision means that Florida must provide a fast and efficient process for people who cannot pay their legal financial obligations. Until then, many citizens who should be able to vote will be left waiting.
The day before this court victory, I testified before Congress about the extraordinary stress our election systems are under nationwide. Over the past decade, 25 states have put in place new laws making it harder to vote for the first time since the Jim Crow era.
Many states continue to disenfranchise people living and working in our communities because they have a past felony conviction. Voter roll purges have surged, particularly in states previously covered by the pre-clearance provisions of the Voting Rights Act. All these obstacles to the ballot hit hardest communities of color, the poor, young, and elderly. Voter suppression remains a potent threat to American democracy and a bitter challenge to the ideals of equality.
And there is a new and unnerving challenge: foreign interference threatens to disrupt and degrade the 2020 election. We all know that Russia intervened in 2016. Progress has been made since then. But next year, several states will still require voters to cast ballots on hackable electronic voting machines that do not leave a paper trail. Others will conduct no post-election audits to verify an accurate vote count.
We believe strongly that the best response to attacks on our democracy is to strengthen our democracy. Earlier this year, the House passed H.R. 1 — the For the People Act of 2019, the most sweeping democracy reform bill since 1965. I urged the Senate to follow the House and pass this bill now. The House should pass a revitalized Voting Rights Act. And the Senate must match the House’s proposed $600 million appropriation to the states for election security.
Americans are hungry for positive solutions. Citizens are energized and engaged, with soaring turnout, a true democracy movement. Congress should act with the same urgency as its constituents and undertake bold reform to revitalize our election systems.

 
Justice
The Supreme Court Must Not Turn Back from Juvenile Sentencing Reform
It’s been 17 years since teenager Lee Boyd Malvo and his older accomplice John Allen Mohammad terrorized millions of Americans during their “Beltway Sniper” shooting spree through Washington, Maryland, and Virginia. Mohammad was executed in Virginia a decade ago, but Malvo, who has now spent more than half his life in prison, is back in the news. The Supreme Court is considering whether, in light of recent rulings from the high court, the state of Virginia must grant him a resentencing hearing. The outcome will leave a broader legacy for other juvenile offenders who are serving mandatory life sentences without parole, according to Brennan Center Fellow Andrew Cohen. // Read More

 
Constitution
The Hidden Costs of High-Tech Surveillance in Schools
Students of color face disproportionate punishment in school, feeding the “school-to-prison pipeline.” Now districts are shelling out for expensive surveillance systems like facial recognition and “aggression detecting microphones.” As the Brennan Center’s Priyam Madhukar writes, these risk labeling students’ normal thoughts, words, and movements as dangerous — and potentially involving law enforcement, worsening racial disparities. // Read More

 
Democracy
Small Donor Public Financing in New York and San Francisco
A New York State commission began crafting a small-donor public campaign financing system last week. The system will provide up to $100 million in matching public funds to candidates who collect a qualifying amount of small private donations. “It’s great we’re at a moment where we’re talking about small donor campaign financing to amplify the voices of New Yorkers who can only give small amounts,” said Brennan Center Senior Counsel Chisun Lee. “But the success of that program depends of course on bringing down contribution limits from those who can afford to give tons of money.” // AP
 
Meanwhile, San Francisco’s “Public Financing 2.0” was signed into law last Wednesday. It’s the largest expansion of the city’s public financing program since voters put it in place in 2000. Under the program, supervisorial candidates will be able to receive $100,000 more than the current cap of $155,000 in matching public funds and mayoral candidates $225,000 more than the current cap of $975,000. // San Francisco Examiner

 
News
  • Ángel Díaz on information-sharing among law enforcement agencies to arrest undocumented immigrants // Univision
  • Lawrence Norden on why Congress is failing to address threats to election security // Scientific American
  • Elizabeth Goitein on court decisions finding that the FBI’s email surveillance methods violated Americans’ privacy rights // Just Security
  • Michael Li on the battle over redistricting // Talking Points Memo
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.

 
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