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On the evening of December 7, 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt summoned his secretary and dictated a speech to be delivered to the nation the following day. Roosevelt intoned steadily, puffing on his cigarette and specifying punctuation marks as he spoke. “Yesterday, December seventh, 1941, a date which will live in world history...” When he received the typed draft, the president scratched out “world history” and scribbled “infamy.”
December 7, 1941. November 22, 1963. September 11, 2001. These events scarred our national psyche, and the mere mention of the date is enough to recall the trauma. This Thursday marks the one-year anniversary of another such date: January 6, 2021.
Like these other infamous dates, our understanding of the events of January 6 continues to develop. A year ago, we knew that Donald Trump had spurred the insurrection, with his Big Lie of a stolen election, his summoning of supporters to a “wild” protest, and the demand that his followers march up Pennsylvania Avenue and “fight like hell.” Today we know there was more to it: that Trump and his aides had a scheme, far-fetched as it was, to use chaos and doubt to throw the election to the House of Representatives, where it could be stolen for him. “Just say that the election was corrupt + leave the rest to me and the R. Congressmen,” notes from his call with the acting attorney general recorded.
Also like the other infamous dates, we now recognize January 6 not as an isolated event, but as part of a historical movement. This movement did not start with Trump. And this wider antidemocratic rebellion is far from defeated. To the contrary, it has made staggering progress. In 2021, legislatures across the country
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considered bills to grant themselves the power to overturn or nullify election results. Some are trying to legislate courts out of the voting process. Many are threatening to punish election officials who attempt to ensure equal access to the ballot.
History’s searing days often served to rally public emotion, for better or worse. In World War II, soldiers fought to “remember Pearl Harbor.” 9/11 briefly unified the country but was used to justify the invasion of Iraq.
Will January 6 similarly inspire and rally? Congress is finally poised to act to protect American democracy. The Freedom to Vote Act and the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act are the most important voting rights bills in over half a century. They would stop the wave of restrictive voting laws, combat racial discrimination, and establish strong national standards for elections. They would counter the antidemocratic impulse behind January 6. As the Senate returns this week from recess, they are the first item of business.
What does January 6 mean? What the Senate does — or fails to do — will provide the answer.
Democracy
Voter Suppression, Meet Your Match
The voter suppression law enacted in Texas last year is a grim sign of the various innovative ways state legislators are working to undermine democracy. It makes it harder to help voters with language barriers, restricts mail-in and drop-off voting, and condones voter harassment from poll watchers. Texas is just one of many states going down this antidemocratic path, but there is a solution. Elizabeth Hira and Will Wilder lay out how the Freedom to Vote Act can stop these tactics dead in their tracks. “By setting strong national standards for voter access, election integrity, and redistricting, the Freedom to Vote Act will go a long way towards minimizing partisan malfeasance in the election process,” they write. Read more
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Constitution
The ‘China Initiative’ Must Go
Survey data shows that the Department of Justice program known as the “China Initiative” is making Chinese and Chinese-American scientists fearful about working in the United States at a vital time for science and technology research. The program, designed to crack down on trade secret theft and economic espionage, has too often resulted in cases brought against scientists of Chinese ancestry who committed minor administrative violations. “If our law enforcement and intelligence agencies do their job properly, our scientists can return to the real questions they want to answer. They can go from thinking ‘who is next’ for government targeting to ‘what is next’ for scientific discovery,” Michael German and Alex Liang write. JUST SECURITY
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Justice
It’s Time for Receivership at Rikers
New York City’s Rikers Island holds thousands of people who have not been convicted of a crime, and does so in scandalously unconstitutional and dangerous conditions. Last year, for example, 16 people died in custody, the most since 2013. Even as the new mayor and city council pledge to close the jail for good, immediate change is needed for those currently subject to its revolting conditions. Hernandez Stroud presents a new way forward: receivership, which would put the failing facility under emergency control by a nonpartisan expert. “Without more aggressive judicial treatment, if history is any guide, officials will keep flouting court directives. That will keep causing needless human suffering, even death,” he writes. NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
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Public Defense Needs Defending
The Sixth Amendment’s right to an attorney is a cornerstone of the American justice system, but actual access to a public defender varies wildly across jurisdictions nationwide. In a wide-spanning conversation, Andrew Cohen and Sixth Amendment Center Executive Director David Carroll discuss the history of the right to counsel and what can be done to bridge the gap between what the Constitution promises and the current state of public defense in the United States. “I think what is really needed in this country is for Congress to establish an entity to promulgate, monitor, and enforce indigent defense standards at the state level,” Carroll says. READ MORE
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Coming Up
VIRTUAL EVENT: How Civil Wars Start
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Thursday, January 13, 6–7 p.m. ET
The United States has long been known for its optimism. We trust that peace prevails, our institutions are unshakable, and our democracy is unbreakable. But in the past decade, America has undergone seismic changes in cultural and economic power that have created a fertile breeding ground for political violence. Brennan Center Fellow Michael German, a former FBI special agent and expert on domestic terrorism, discusses these dangers with Barbara F. Walter, author of the new book How Civil Wars Start And How to Stop Them
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RSVP today
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Produced in partnership with New York University’s John Brademas Center
VIRTUAL EVENT: Reframing the Constitution
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Tuesday, January 25, 7–8 p.m. ET
In The People's Constitution
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, Wilfred Codrington and John Kowal present an alternative history to our founding document and a vital guide to our national charter. That history, they argue, “has been, for the most part, an inspiring story of progressive legal change, driven by powerful social movements and an evolving array of civil society organizations.” But in our fractured, hyper-partisan politics of today, are we still able to amend the Constitution?
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Produced in partnership with the New York Public Library
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News
Michael German on the Capitol riot and far right groups // PBS NEWSHOUR
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Ames Grawert on urban homicide statistics // STAR TRIBUNE
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Michael Li on independent redistricting in Michigan // NEW YORK TIMES
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Sean Morales-Doyle on the Brennan Center’s lawsuit defending Texas election officials // NBC NEWS
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Wendy Weiser on attacks on voting rights in 2021 // NPR
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