Electing a president is not the only high-stakes choice voters will make in November. In Ohio, citizens will vote on a constitutional amendment that would end gerrymandering. Voters in 10 states have the opportunity to amend their state constitutions to affirm or expand protections for abortion care. Three states will decide whether to remove language against same-sex marriage from their state constitutions. 

All states but Delaware require voters to approve proposed amendments to state constitutions. Half of all states have a constitutional right to direct democracy, allowing citizens to place statutory or constitutional proposals on the ballot and pass them by popular vote. But some lawmakers and other elected officials are making a concerted effort to reduce citizens’ power to enact policy through ballot initiatives.

Listen to a recording of our experts panel’s virtual discussion on state ballots issues in the 2024 election and trends to watch out for.

Speakers:

• Amanda Becker, Washington Correspondent, The 19th; Author, You Must Stand Up: The Fight for Abortion Rights in Post-Dobbs America

• Alice Clapman, Senior Counsel, Brennan Center Democracy Program

• John Matsusaka, Charles F. Sexton Chair in American Enterprise, Professor of Finance and Business Economics, Executive Director of Initiative and Referendum Institute, USC Marshall School of Business

• Moderator: Alicia Bannon, Director, Brennan Center Judiciary Program; Editor in Chief, State Court Report

Produced in partnership with State Court Report. Recorded on October 29, 2024. 

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Crime has long been a political wedge issue used to stoke anxiety and stir division, and this election cycle has been no different. Although the pandemic crime spike is receding, the politicians who fearmongered about crime in 2020 continue to call for harsher punishments and the repeal of reforms.

Law enforcement officials and other experts understand that public safety and fairness are not competing interests — they go hand in hand. Brennan Center research proves as much, and groups like Law Enforcement Leaders to Reduce Crime & Incarceration know it from experience. This group of current and former leaders of the law enforcement community, convened by the Brennan Center, draws on their expertise to advocate for a fairer criminal justice system and works to reduce incarceration while keeping communities safe.

Listen to a recording of our experts panel’s virtual discussion on the latest data on crime trends and the importance of focusing on facts rather than myths.

Speakers:

• Rosemary Nidiry, Senior Counsel, Law Enforcement Leaders to Reduce Crime and Incarceration, Brennan Center Justice Program

• Beth McCann, District Attorney, Denver, Colorado; Member, Law Enforcement Leaders to Reduce Crime and Incarceration

• Shon F. Barnes, Chief of Police, Madison, Wisconsin; Member, Law Enforcement Leaders to Reduce Crime and Incarceration

• Ames Grawert, Senior Counsel, Brennan Center Justice Program

• Moderator: Natalie Tennant, Former West Virginia Secretary of State

Produced in partnership with Law Enforcement Leaders to Reduce Crime & Incarceration, a project of the Brennan Center. It was recorded on October 17, 2024.

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A white supremacist of color seems like a contradiction. Yet recent years have brought to light unsettling examples, including an Afro-Latino leader of the Proud Boys and a Latino mass shooter with neo-Nazi sympathies. These men are among a small but growing number of Latinos in the United States who gravitate toward the far right and adopt radical views on race, Christian nationalism, and immigration. 

In an eye-opening new book, Defectors, Emmy Award–winning journalist Paola Ramos uses interviews, historical context, and expert analysis to shatter the longtime understanding of Latinos as a political monolith and uncover a diversity of opinion that makes room for white nationalists and avowed racists.

Listen to a recording of our expert panel’s virtual discussion of this alarming trend.

Speakers:

• Paola Ramos, Author, Defectors: The Rise of the Latino Far Right and What It Means for America; MSNBC Contributor

• Michael German, Former Special Agent, Federal Bureau of Investigation; Fellow, Brennan Center Liberty & National Security Program

• Eduardo Gamarra, Professor of Politics and International Relations, Florida International University

• Moderator: Mireya Navarro, Editor in Chief, Brennan en español

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Recorded on October 10, 2024.

Check out Paola Ramos’s new book here: Defectors: The Rise of the Latino Far Right and What It Means for America (bookshop.org)

You can subscribe to Brennan en español’s Spanish-language newsletter here: https://go.brennancenter.org/suscribirse 

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In its last term, the Supreme Court undermined the federal government’s power to solve problems and the people’s ability to hold their political leaders accountable. The Court was flooded with false historical arguments, and the justices relied on profoundly flawed ideas about the deep American past to help justify their radical overhaul of the law. Additionally, the Court’s conservative supermajority was forced to confront the implications of one of its most damaging originalist rulings, Bruen, which undermined gun control nationwide. Meanwhile, in lower courts around the country, judges are dealing with a deluge of cases under the Court’s new history-based rules about abortion, guns, and affirmative action.

Where does the fight against originalism stand in 2024? And what might come next?

Listen to a recording of our virtual discussion with leading historians and Brennan Center experts exploring some of the Supreme Court’s most significant recent rulings, how they’ll shape upcoming legal debate, and how the Court’s disastrous originalist opinions are affecting hundreds of millions of lives.

Speakers:

• Jonathan Gienapp, Associate Professor of Law, Associate Professor of History, Stanford University; Author, Against Constitutional Originalism: A Historical Critique

• Gautham Rao, Associate Professor of History, American University

• Rachel Shelden, Associate Professor of History, Director of George and Ann Richards Civil War Era Center, Pennsylvania State University

• Thomas Wolf, Director of Democracy Initiatives, Founder of Historians Council on the Constitution, Brennan Center

• Moderator: Kareem Crayton, Vice President for Washington, DC, Brennan Center

Produced with support from the Kohlberg Center on the U.S. Supreme Court. Recorded on October 2, 2024. 

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You can check out Jonathan Gienapp’s book here: https://bookshop.org/p/books/against-constitutional-originalism-a-historical-critique-jonathan-gienapp/21320944?ean=9780300265859 

Keep up with the Brennan Center’s work by subscribing to our weekly newsletter, The Briefing: https://go.brennancenter.org/briefing

On October 7, the Supreme Court begins its 2024–2025 term — the fourth in which it is dominated by a supermajority of conservative justices.

Just months after a disastrous presidential immunity decision, and in the face of continued controversy over the justices’ ethics and partisanship, the Court will reconvene to hear arguments on issues with profound consequences for American life.

Among the questions on the docket: whether so-called “ghost guns” are subject to regulation, whether prosecutorial misconduct invalidates a death sentence, the power of federal agencies to protect waterways, the applicability of criminal sentence reduction laws, and access to gender-affirming medical care. 

This live panel featured Brennan Center President Michael Waldman, who served on the 2021 Presidential Commission on the Supreme Court, and Brennan Center Senior Fellow Caroline Fredrickson, former president of the American Constitution Society. They were interviewed by constitutional law scholar Wilfred Codrington III.

It was recorded on September 25, 2024.

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Election workers are unsung heroes, ensuring behind the scenes that our elections run smoothly and securely. Yet many people don’t fully grasp what their job entails, leaving room for election deniers to spread misinformation. This lack of understanding has fueled a disturbing rise in threats, intimidation, and abuse against election officials since 2020.

This live panel was moderated by the Brennan Center’s Natalie Tennant, former secretary of state of West Virginia, and it featured Adrian Fontes, secretary of state of Arizona; Brenda Cabrera, former director of elections for Fairfax, Virginia; and Brianna Lennon, country clerk of Boone County, Missouri. They shared their day-to-day challenges and the vital role that they play in ensuring in free and fair elections in a time of increased misinformation. It was recorded on September 19, 2024.

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Efforts to undermine trust in elections, marked by disinformation campaigns and attempts to overturn results, have surged. A new book, Our Nation at Risk, exposes how these assaults on election integrity pose a serious threat to national security. Featuring perspectives from leading political scientists, historians, and legal experts, it explores the escalation of these threats and presents concrete solutions to address them.

Listen to a recording of our virtual discussion on how to fortify our election systems and rebuild confidence in the fairness of the democratic process from our expert panel:

Julian E. Zelizer, Editor, Our Nation at Risk: Election Integrity as a National Security Issue; Malcolm Stevenson Forbes, Class of 1941 Professor of History and Public Affairs, Princeton University

Kareem Crayton, Vice President for Washington, DC, Brennan Center for Justice

Trevor W. Morrison, Eric M. and Laurie B. Roth Professor of Law, Dean Emeritus, NYU School of Law

Moderator: Karen J. Greenberg, Editor, Our Nation at Risk: Election Integrity as a National Security Issue; Director, Center on National Security at Fordham Law

It was recorded on September 17, 2024.

You can find the book here: https://bookshop.org/p/books/our-nation-at-risk-election-integrity-as-a-national-security-issue-julian-e-zelizer/20620408?ean=9781479830916

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Cities, states, and counties across the nation have curbed the use of money bail. Reformers say that jailing criminal defendants who can’t afford to buy their pretrial freedom punishes poverty. Opponents, however, blamed the uptick in crime during the Covid-19 pandemic on bail reform and pushed to roll back the changes. So what’s the truth — did bail reform cause an increase in crime?

Terry-Ann Craigie, associate professor of economics at Smith College and economics fellow in the Brennan Center’s Justice Program, and Ames Grawert, senior counsel in the Brennan Center’s Justice Program, compared crime rates in cities that enacted bail reforms with those that did not. In the broadest and most comprehensive study of this issue to date, they found no evidence that efforts to limit bail and pretrial detention increased crime. Ultimately, there are more promising ways to lower crime than to attack and weaken bail reform.

Listen to this discussion from August 15, with Brennan Center experts exploring crime trends in cities that did and did not limit bail, the possible unintended consequences of some reforms, and more effective ways to bolster public safety.

Speakers:

• Ames Grawert, Senior Counsel, Brennan Center Justice Program

• Terry-Ann Craigie, Associate Professor of Economics, Smith College; Economics Fellow, Brennan Center Justice Program

• Moderator: Mireya Navarro, Editor in Chief, Brennan en español

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You can read the report here: https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/bail-reform-and-public-safety 

You can keep up with the Brennan Center’s work by subscribing to our weekly newsletter, The Briefing: https://go.brennancenter.org/briefing

It’s time to reform the Supreme Court. The founders would not recognize the modern incarnation of what Alexander Hamilton called “the least dangerous” branch. The Court wields far more power on far more issues than it did in the 18th century. And it does so in the absence of adequate checks and balances. The individual justices hold this power longer than they ever have. For the first 180 years of U.S. history, justices served an average of approximately 15 years. In recent years, justices have served an average of 26 years.

Momentum for reform is growing. Numerous polls have shown overwhelming bipartisan support for term limits and an enforceable code of ethics. The president and vice president have both announced their support for real change.

Listen to this discussion from August 13th with Supreme Court experts to talk about what exactly these proposals entail and what they would mean for American democracy. 

Speakers:

• Cristina Rodríguez, Leighton Homer Surbeck Professor of Law, Yale Law School; Co-Chair, Presidential Commission on the Supreme Court of the United States

• Diane Wood, Circuit Judge (ret.), U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit; Director, American Law Institute; Senior Lecturer, University of Chicago Law School

• Alicia Bannon, Director, Judiciary Program, Brennan Center for Justice; Editor in Chief, State Court Report

• Moderator: Michael Waldman, President, Brennan Center; Member, Presidential Commission on the Supreme Court of the United States

Produced with support from the Kohlberg Center on the U.S. Supreme Court

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The Insurrection Act gives presidents dangerous authority to use the U.S. military as a domestic police force It has virtually no limits on when and how this power can be used, making it ripe for abuse by any leader. Without urgent reforms, the law is a threat to civil liberties — and American democracy itself. 

In a conversation moderated by the Brennan Center’s Elizabeth Goitein, lawyer and writer Hawa Allan, Harvard law professor Jack Goldsmith, and Brennan Center counsel Joseph Nunn discuss how urgent reforms are needed to prevent the Insurrection Act’s misuse. They also explore how these proposed solutions can help protect our civil liberties. 

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You can keep up with the Brennan Center’s work by subscribing to our weekly newsletter, The Briefing: https://go.brennancenter.org/briefing