Resisting Minority Rule
Brennan Center LIVE
A governing majority in the United States has never required an actual majority of the voting population. And the tactics of achieving minoritarian control are always shifting. A minority of Americans are now set on thwarting the will of the people through voter suppression, gerrymandering, and even election subversion. In his new book, , voting rights reporter Ari Berman charts the rise of this antidemocracy movement in the face of the country’s significant demographic and political shifts. Listen in on a discussion with Berman and former West Virginia Secretary of State Natalie Tennant...
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What Comes Next in the Trump Legal Saga?
Brennan Center LIVE
Donald Trump is now the first American president convicted of a crime. The smooth trial process shows that — independent of the outcome — the U.S. justice system can still work, even with a powerful defendant. But full accountability seems far off. The federal courts, including the Supreme Court, have stalled Trump’s prosecution for trying to overthrow the 2020 election and for misuse of classified documents and obstruction of justice. Listen to an expert discussion on how Trump’s defense in the New York business records falsification trial, including Trumps’ accusations of...
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The High Cost of Public Service
Brennan Center LIVE
A new Brennan Center report reveals that intimidation aimed at state and local officials is distressingly common: For example, 43 percent of state legislators have experienced threats within the past three years. These threats have serious repercussions for representative democracy. Officeholders report being less willing to work on contentious issues like reproductive rights and gun control and more reluctant to continue serving. Additionally, intimidation is often targeted at groups already underrepresented in government, such as women and people of color. Listen to a...
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The Failed Experiment of Mass Incarceration
Brennan Center LIVE
Most of the more than 1 million Americans in prison — disproportionately low-income people of color — will return to their communities after serving long sentences with few resources and little support. Recidivism rates remain stubbornly high. The criminal justice system, then, fails to produce public safety even as core values such as equality, fairness, and proportionality have fallen by the wayside. The new book Excessive Punishment: How the Justice System Creates Mass Incarceration, edited by the Brennan Center’s Lauren-Brooke Eisen, features essays from scholars,...
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Misdemeanors by the Numbers
Brennan Center LIVE
Misdemeanors, not violent offenses, dominate criminal justice. A decade of reforms has shrunk the sprawling misdemeanor system, but the prosecution of shoplifting, traffic violations, and other lesser offenses remains a burden on vulnerable communities and law enforcement resources even as public concern over physical and social disorder in public spaces spurs calls for renewed enforcement. A new Brennan Center report zooms in on New York City as a case study for how misdemeanor enforcement has changed in recent years, offering insights into the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and reform...
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Decoding the Trump Indictments
Brennan Center LIVE
Listen to the recording of our in-person event from last month, Decoding the Trump Indictments. Melissa Murray and Andrew Weissmann, coauthors of the new book The Trump Indictments, discuss the historic charges against the former president in a discussion moderated by Brennan Center President Michael Waldman. Murray is the Frederick I. and Grace Stokes Professor of Law Faculty and director of the Birnbaum Women’s Leadership Center at NYU Law. Weissmann, a professor of practice at NYU Law and a legal analyst for MSNBC, previously served as general counsel to the FBI and one of the senior...
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Martin Garbus and the Cuban Five
Brennan Center LIVE
In his most recent book, North of Havana, legendary trial lawyer Martin Garbus recounts one of his most high-profile cases: the Cuban Five. In this episode of Brennan Center Live, Garbus talks to Victoria Bassetti about what this case can teach us about the U.S. justice system, American politics, and U.S.-Cuba relations.
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Van Jones in Conversation with Darren Walker
Brennan Center LIVE
Mass incarceration is among the nation’s greatest moral and racial injustices. We have five percent of the world’s population, but nearly a quarter of its prisoners. In recent years, a dynamic movement for change has swept across the country. How will it survive the current political climate? CNN host Van Jones, the author of the new book Beyond the Messy Truth, will discuss his drive to cut prison populations in half – and the challenge of fighting for change in a polarized America. He will be in dialogue with Darren Walker, the President and CEO of the Ford Foundation. ...
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Scott Horton Book Talk: Lords of Secrecy
Brennan Center LIVE
In the last decade, national security issues have increasingly faded from the political agenda, due in part to the growth of government secrecy. In his new book, Lords of Secrecy: The National Security Elite and America's Stealth Warfare, journalist and lawyer Scott Horton explains how secrecy has fundamentally changed the way America functions. Never before have the American people had so little information concerning the wars waged in their name, nor has Congress exercised so little oversight over the war effort. Horton reminds us that publicly addressing the country’s national...
info_outlineA new Brennan Center report reveals that intimidation aimed at state and local officials is distressingly common: For example, 43 percent of state legislators have experienced threats within the past three years.
These threats have serious repercussions for representative democracy. Officeholders report being less willing to work on contentious issues like reproductive rights and gun control and more reluctant to continue serving. Additionally, intimidation is often targeted at groups already underrepresented in government, such as women and people of color.
Listen to a recording of our virtual discussion of this alarming trend, as well as recommendations to stem the abuse from our expert panel:
Anna Eskamani, State Representative, Florida House of Representatives
Gowri Ramachandran, Deputy Director, Brennan Center Elections and Government Program
Tom Roberts, Former Assemblymember, Nevada State Assembly
Moderator: Deirdre Walsh, Congressional Correspondent, NPR
With remarks from Letitia James, Attorney General, New York State
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Check out Brennan Center’s new report here: https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/intimidation-state-and-local-officeholders
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