Publications

Filibuster Abuse

Over the last decade, Senate procedures have increasingly been used to prevent decision-making rather than to promote deliberation and debate. The threat of a filibuster – coupled with a 60-vote requirement to force any substantive vote – has affected nearly every action in the Senate during the last several years, under both Republican and Democratic majorities. As a result, the Senate has effectively ceased operating as the majoritarian institution our founders intended for it to be.

Authored by: Mimi Marziani, with a Foreword by Susan Liss
– 12/07/10

Executive Orders

Today in Albany, the group Reinvent Albany, New York Public Interest Research Group, Brennan Center for Justice at NYU Law School, and Center for Research, Regional Education and Outreach (CRREO) at SUNY New Paltz released their report Executive Orders: Actions the Governor can take to make New York government more open, accountable and democratic.

The report includes eleven model executive orders that Governor-elect Andrew Cuomo can use to open up New York State government, increase the accountability of state agencies and reduce barriers to voting. An executive order is a governor’s declaration which has the force of law, and does not require legislation to take effect. The orders are centered on the basic goal of empowering the citizenry with more and better information about what its government is doing, and how it is spending tax payer dollars.

Authored by: Gerald Benjamin, Blair Horner, John Kaehny, and Lawrence Norden
– 11/23/10

Criminal Justice Debt: A Barrier to Reentry

Cash-strapped states have increasingly turned to user fees to fund their criminal justice systems, as well as to provide general budgetary support. States now charge defendants for everything from probation supervision, to jail stays, to the use of a constitutionally-required public defender. Every stage of the criminal justice process, it seems, has become ripe for a surcharge.

Authored by: Alicia Bannon, Mitali Nagrecha, Rebekah Diller
– 10/04/10

Small Donor Matching Funds: The NYC Election Experience

This report examines the New York City system and shows that a system based on small donations with a multiple match can change the dynamics of money in our politics. Specifically, the small donor multiple match system—which is a feature of both Fair Elections and the New York City system—has the potential to transform our politics by incentivizing and supercharging grassroots fundraising.

Authored by: Angela Migally, Susan Liss, Frederick A.O. Schwarz
– 09/17/10

The New Politics of Judicial Elections, 2000-2009: Decade of Change

State judicial elections have been transformed during the past decade. The story of America’s 2000–2009 high court contests—tens of millions of dollars raised by candidates from parties who may appear before them, millions more poured in by interest groups, nasty and misleading ads, and pressure on judges to signal courtroom rulings on the campaign trail—has become the new normal.

For more than a decade, partisans and special interests of all stripes have been growing more organized in their efforts to use elections to tilt the scales of justice their way.

Authored by: the Justice at Stake Campaign, the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law, and the National Institute of Money in State Politics
– 08/16/10