The war in Ukraine reminds us that our own democracy is worth fighting for.
([link removed])
We are all mesmerized, horrified, furious about Russia’s barbaric attack on Ukraine. The human toll, the wanton violence aimed at civilians, the 2 million refugees . . . the inspiring sight of ordinary people mobilizing to fight for their homes . . . all impel us to care so deeply.
Something else stirs our hearts, too: Ukraine is a democracy. Russia is a dictatorship. So the battle for Ukraine today is the frontline of the fight for democracy.
This broader conflict has been years in the making, though not always visible. Democratization swept the world in the late 1980s. In just a few years, Eastern Europe had nonviolent pro-democracy revolutions, the Soviet Union collapsed, Nelson Mandela was released from prison and elected president of South Africa. Even in China, a massacre in Tiananmen Square was required to preserve the regime. Liberal democracy, accompanied by free markets, seemed the wave of the future.
Democratization now faces a global backlash, a retrenchment. In Turkey, in India, in the Philippines, in Hungary and Poland, leaders were elected and revealed themselves to be autocrats. In China, Xi Jinping has hoarded the Communist Party’s power into his own hands.
For a decade, we watched Vladimir Putin stir trouble. He backed Brexit and threw his weight around in the French presidential election. And of course, in 2016 he intervened in our election, hacking Democratic emails to help elect Donald Trump. The president whom Putin backed, in the end, tried to overthrow American democracy.
It long seemed savvy to say that Putin simply wanted to sow chaos. In fact, he invariably backed authoritarian forces. They often spoke in the language of anti-immigrant nationalism and religious orthodoxy. Putin wasn’t just making trouble — he was waging an ideological war for right-wing social and political values.
It’s easy to forget that Putin’s help came as Trump removed support for Ukraine from the Republican platform in 2016. His campaign manager, Paul Manafort, was being paid by pro-Russian oligarchs. And Trump's first impeachment was prompted by his corrupt bid to blackmail President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, threatening to deny military aid unless the Ukrainian concocted smears against Joe Biden and his family. (I write about it in the journal Democracy in a review
([link removed])
of Rep. Adam Schiff’s book.)
Ukraine is far from perfect. It’s corrupt and dominated by oligarchs. Like Russia it has a bloody ethnonationalist history. But when Ukraine — the country from which my family fled after anti-Semitic pogroms that killed tens of thousands — elected a Jewish president without batting an eye, it suggests something very different and very hopeful lives there.
If nothing else, the emotional outpouring for Ukraine can remind us of why we must fight for our own democracy. When Zelenskyy and his people talk about “freedom” and “democracy” they aren’t just spouting slogans. They are risking their lives. The images from Kiev display the beauty and the power of a system based on the accumulated choices of millions of citizens, and why we must fight for it — and that fight is something we must wage here, in our own home, as well.
Democracy
The Cost of Addressing Insider Threats
Election workers have admirably withstood a pandemic, political attacks, and threats to their safety and ability to conduct elections securely and accurately. Now insider threats — election officials or partisan operatives determined to abuse their authority and twist results — present a new risk. Following up on the Brennan Center’s past analysis
([link removed])
that determined the security measures needed to address this new danger, Lawrence Norden, Derek Tisler, and Turquoise Baker calculate the estimated expenses of implementing these much-needed upgrades. The five-year cost comes out to $316 million nationwide — an especially reasonable price tag when the alternative is leaving our democracy vulnerable to sabotage. Read more
([link removed])
The Promise of a Potential Justice Jackson
The historic nomination of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to replace Justice Stephen Breyer on the Supreme Court has led some to cast doubt on how much impact a future Justice Jackson could have as part of a 3–6 minority. Madiba Dennie discusses the academic literature around the beneficial impact of judicial diversity on jurisprudence and deliberation, as well as the turning point that the confirmation of Jackson would be: “The judiciary cannot fulfill its promise of equal justice under the law when huge swaths of the country are always the judged, never the judge,” she writes. NBC NEWS
([link removed])
A Dearth of Diversity in State Supreme Courts
The issue of judicial diversity isn’t just a problem for the Supreme Court and federal courts: in state supreme courts, which wield immense power and influence over Americans’ lives, the disconnect between courts’ diversity and the country’s is even greater. Twenty-two out of fifty state supreme courts have an all-white bench — including in eleven states where people of color make up at least 20 percent of the population. Thirty states don’t have any women of color serving as justices, and female justices hold only 39 percent of all state supreme court seats. Alicia Bannon explains the myriad disadvantages faced by non-white men in the judiciary, leading to “a cataclysmic loss for the legal system.” SLATE
([link removed])
Constitution
A Refresher on America’s Commitments to NATO
Amid concerns that Russia’s Ukraine invasion could expand to NATO members like Poland and Lithuania, many are wondering what NATO’s Article 5 collective defense obligations mean for the United States. Katherine Yon Ebright answers key questions on this pressing matter, from America’s responsibilities to the president’s power to Congress’s role. Read more
([link removed])
Coming Up
VIRTUAL EVENT: Millennials, Gen Z, and Civic Engagement
([link removed])
Thursday, March 10, 6–7 p.m. ET
Leveraging digital literacy, protests and demonstrations, and public debate on social media, millennials and Generation Z have a distinct way of engaging in our society. How does their reimagining of civic engagement in America challenge tradition? How will it reshape our democracy
Join us for a live discussion with Theodore R. Johnson, director of the Brennan Center’s Fellows Program; Elan C. Hope, Brennan Center fellow and professor of psychology at North Carolina State University; Ruby Belle Booth, Brennan Center fellow; Layla Zaidane, president and CEO of the Millennial Action Project; Chuck Yarborough, history teacher at the Mississippi School for Mathematics and Science; and Laura Barrón-López, Politico White House correspondent. The conversation will explore the opportunities found when we engage across generations to make our country stronger. RSVP today
([link removed])
VIRTUAL EVENT: Social Media’s Free Speech Problem
([link removed])
Thursday, March 24, 6–7 p.m. ET
The problem of misinformation on social media has ballooned over the last few years, especially in relation to elections. The result has been further polarization of our already divided country. How do we control this false speech while protecting the First Amendment — and our democracy? Join us for a live discussion with Richard L. Hasen, leading expert on election law and author of the upcoming book, Cheap Speech: How Disinformation Poisons Our Politics — and How to Cure It
([link removed])
. The discussion will explore how social media companies can solve this problem without shutting down the essential free flow of ideas and opinions. RSVP today
([link removed])
Want to keep up with Brennan Center Live events? Subscribe to the events newsletter.
([link removed])
News
Michael Li on litigation around New York’s congressional maps // NEW YORK TIMES
([link removed])
Asia Johnson on the injustice of billing imprisoned people for their time behind bars // NPR
([link removed])
Rachel Levinson-Waldman on the Brennan Center’s FOIA lawsuit against DC police // DCIST
([link removed])
Lawrence Norden on how politicizing the role of election officials harms American democracy // NPR
([link removed])
Feedback on this newsletter? Email us at
[email protected]
([link removed])
Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law
120 Broadway, Suite 1750 New York, NY 10271
646-292-8310
tel:646-292-8310
[email protected]
Support Brennan Center
([link removed])
Want to change how you receive these emails or unsubscribe? Click here
[link removed]
to update your preferences.
Want to stop receiving these emails? Click here to unsubscribe
[link removed]
([link removed])
([link removed])
([link removed])
([link removed])
([link removed])
([link removed])
