Last week the Census Bureau released the initial results of its Post-Enumeration Survey, a significant quality check for the decennial count. While it appears the 2020 Census accurately captured the total number of people living in the country, communities of color were significantly undercounted, raising equity concerns for fair representation and other resources distributed according to census results. Clara Fong and Kelly Percival detail the undercount and its effects, as well as how to prevent it from happening in the future. Read more

The Ohio Supreme Court has now twice ordered the Ohio Redistricting Commission to redraw legislative maps, finding their first and second drafts to be partisan gerrymanders in violation of the state constitution. Instead of producing a fair map, the commission’s third attempt was even more distorted than the second. Sam Gresham, chair of Common Cause Ohio and a plaintiff represented by the Brennan Center in the lawsuit challenging the maps, discusses the commission’s contempt for the Ohio Constitution and their impact on Ohioans of color. “Every time, the commission ignored the Ohio Constitution. It drew district lines that gave the Republican party a substantial edge and undermined the votes of millions of Ohioans, mine included,” he writes. COLUMBUS DISPATCH

Greater accountability and transparency are needed to address conditions in correctional institutions. Jails and prisons across the country are hotspots for abuse, violence, and an inhumane lack of sanitation, situations further exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic. “The nation is in dire need of more prevent­at­ive and inde­pend­ent correc­tional over­sight to rein these abuses in. Our current patchwork of over­sight provides insuf­fi­cient coverage,” Lauren-Brooke Eisen and Alia Nahra write. Read more

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, and Genevieve Lakier of the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University. 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

 

VIRTUAL EVENT: Uncounted: The Crisis of Voter Suppression in America

Thursday, March 31, 6–7 p.m. ET

 

Join Gilda R. Daniels, University of Baltimore law professor and author of Uncounted: The Crisis of Voter Suppression in America, in conversation with the Brennan Center’s Wendy Weiser to discuss the crisis of voter suppression today. Daniels, who served as a deputy chief in the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division and has more than two decades of voting rights litigation experience, warns that a premeditated strategy of restrictive laws and deceptive practices has taken root and is eroding the very basis of American democracy — the right to vote. RSVP today

 

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• Alicia Bannon on state supreme court diversity and public trust in the judiciary // PORTLAND PRESS HERALD
• Ted Johnson on the Emmett Till Anti-Lynching Act // VICE
• Michael Li on the Supreme Court’s “breathtaking” shift on redistricting // VICE
• Lawrence Norden on the Brennan Center’s poll of local election officials // CNN
• Faiza Patel on potential war crime charges against Vladimir Putin // SLATE
• Kelly Percival on the 2020 Census’s undercount of people of color // REUTERS