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 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

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

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

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

VIRTUAL EVENT: Millennials, Gen Z, and Civic Engagement

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

 

VIRTUAL EVENT: Social Media’s Free Speech Problem

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. 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

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• Michael Li on litigation around New York’s congressional maps // NEW YORK TIMES
• Asia Johnson on the injustice of billing imprisoned people for their time behind bars // NPR
• Rachel Levinson-Waldman on the Brennan Center’s FOIA lawsuit against DC police // DCIST
• Lawrence Norden on how politicizing the role of election officials harms American democracy // NPR