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New Infographic Explains Effects of Restrictive Voting Laws

Craigslist founder Craig Newmark has created a compelling infographic showing how suppressive election laws infringe on your right to vote. “Restrictions most heavily disenfranchise young, minority, and low-income voters, as well as voters with disabilities,” Newmark said. “We need to prevent bad legislation from preventing people to vote in the 2012 U.S. election.” Read our report on how new voting laws could make it harder for 5 million eligible Americans to vote.

Thomas Giovanni on PBS’ Need to Know

Thomas Giovanni was a featured essayist on PBS to explain how economic circumstances often play a bigger role in the criminal plea process than actual guilt or innocence. “People who don’t have money can’t fight the system, and the system wants a plea. We have to care about the people that we're giving these criminal records to. We have to care about creating a system that is resourced adequately,” he said. Click here to watch the video.

Super PACs in Court and Congress

The Brennan Center urged the U.S. Supreme Court to uphold a Montana law that bans corporate “independent expenditures” in campaigns. Not only should the court affirm a Montana ruling upholding the statute, said Adam Skaggs, but they should use the case as “an opportunity to reconsider the real-world consequences of Citizens United, and the devastating effect it has had on our democracy.” Justices Ginsburg and Breyer also believe the court should hear the matter – and for the same reasons. “[I]t [is] exceedingly difficult to maintain that independent expenditures by corporations ‘do not give rise to corruption or the appearance of corruption,” the justices wrote. The Center also submitted testimony to a Senate panel urging tighter disclosure rules for super PACs, firms and individuals.

The Spy Who Spoke

The late William Colby was Director of Central Intelligence from 1973 to 1976. But he was no desk jockey. Colby parachuted behind enemy lines in World War II to work with resistance forces in Norway and France. Later, he was the CIA’s chief of station in the early days of the Vietnam War. Yet Colby is best remembered for revealing some of the agency’s deepest secrets – among other things, the CIA’s record of illegal domestic wiretaps and foreign assassination attempts. Colby died 15 years ago, but his career has again been brought center stage by his son, Carl Colby, director of the documentary, The Man Nobody Knew: In Search of My Father, CIA Spymaster William Colby. Part family memoir, part historical re-assessment, the film has been described as “riveting,” “powerful” and “shattering.” The Brennan Center will screen the documentary tomorrow, April 4 at 6:00 p.m. The filmmaker will discuss the film with Brennan Center Chief Counsel Fritz Schwarz, Jr., chief counsel to a key congressional probe.

Judge Diane Wood to Deliver Jorde Lecture

U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Diane P. Wood (right) delivers this year's Jorde Lecture at NYU School of Law on April 16. Wood will speak on “When to Hold, When to Fold, and When to Reshuffle: The Art of Decision Making on a Multi-member Court.” Wood has served on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit since 1995, and is widely regarded as one of the nation's top appellate judges. She was among the first women to clerk on the Supreme Court, and when she joined the University of Chicago School of Law faculty in 1981, she was the only woman. NYU Vice Dean Barry Friedman and professor Harry Edwards, former Chief Judge of the D.C. Court of Appeals, will comment.

From the Brennan Center Blog

Campaign Finance and ‘Angry Birds’ Democracy – Jonathan Backer

• Ten years after McCain-Feingold, the law remains almost entirely unharmed, but its foundation has collapsed under a barrage of attacks.

Eighth Circuit Ruling Is a Win for Minnesota Courts – Adam Skaggs & Maria da Silva

• The ruling is a signal that states can indeed implement common-sense regulations to prevent judicial campaign excesses and, in turn, safeguard fair and impartial courts.

Supreme Court Should Hear Latif v. Obama – Rachel Levinson-Waldman

• The case tests the bite in the Supreme Court's 2008 promise that Guantanamo detainees have a constitutional right to challenge their detentions in court.

200 Years of the Gerrymander –  Keesha Gaskins

• Gerrymandering is 200 years old — we cannot let it see another birthday.

Read more blog posts here. To have the blog in your RSS feed, click here.

• April 3 – Myrna Pérez participates in a webinar on the "Top 5 Ways Your Hospital or Clinic Can Uphold Voting Rights."
• April 4 – The Brennan Center hosts a screening of the documentary "The Man Nobody New: In Search of My Father, CIA Spymaster William Colby," with a discussion about intelligence oversight.
• April 13 – Myrna Pérez speaks at a Rutgers Law symposium, "The Voting Rights Act of 1965: Where Do We Go From Here?"
• April 16 – Seventh Circuit Judge Diane P. Wood delivers the 2011-2012 Jorde Symposium at NYU School of Law.

• A New York Times article demonstrated how Florida legislation has caused fewer people to register to vote.
• PBS aired a video essay by Justice Counsel Thomas Giovanni about the injustice of a criminal law system based on plea bargains.
• Washington Post reporter Brady Dennis cited the Brennan Center's New Politics of Judicial Elections report in his story about the influx of special interest spending in judicial races.
• Democracy Counsel Keesha Gaskins spoke to WNYC about Pennsylvania's new voter ID law.
• Liberty and National Security Co-Director Faiza Patel spoke to The Guardian about the NYPD’s monitoring of private citizens.
• Brennan Center founding legal director Burt Neuborne argued in The Nation that the ACLU should change its approach to Citizens United.

To read more Brennan Center In The News, click here.