Latest News from the Brennan Center: Toolkit Fights Criminal Justice Debt, TX Trial Begins
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New Toolkit Helps Fight the Crush of Criminal Justice Debt
Recent articles in The New York Times and the ABA Journal highlight the negative effects of the fees and fines that many states charge at every stage of criminal processing. The most common effect is paralyzing, inescapable debt that makes it more difficult for people to reintegrate into society. A new Brennan Center publication by Roopal Patel and Meghna Philip, Criminal Justice Debt: A Toolkit for Action, proposes policy areas advocates can target for reform, and presents action materials to build a successful campaign for more just policies. The toolkit is an action guide for those fighting the debt collection laws that create problems for the overwhelmingly indigent individuals in the criminal justice system. Click to watch Thomas Giovanni talk about this issue on MSNBC's Rachel Maddow Show. “It’s untenable to finance our courts by bleeding the poor of limited resources,” Roopal Patel wrote in a letter to the editor.
Inimai M. Chettiar is New Director of Justice Program
The Brennan Center is pleased to welcome Inimai M. Chettiar as Director of the Justice Program. In this role, she will coordinate and guide the organization’s work on securing adequate legal representation for the poor, ending unnecessary incarceration, and ensuring equal access to the courts for all. Chettiar comes to the Brennan Center from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), where she was a critical player in launching and leading the organization’s priority Initiative to End Over Incarceration. At the ACLU, she created and led a nationwide legislative program to reduce prison populations, convincing legislators to enact laws to reduce costly prison populations and creating effective partnerships with politicians, academics, and communities of faith and color to form a nationwide coalition to support reforms. In 2011 she was selected by the Center for American Progress to serve as a fellow in recognition of her leadership in the field of racial and criminal justice. “The Brennan Center is thrilled to welcome Inimai," said Brennan Center President Michael Waldman."Her leadership in racial and criminal justice issues is crucial as we work to fix the nation’s broken criminal justice system. Inimai’s insights and research will be invaluable in demonstrating that achieving justice for marginalized communities will bring benefits to all.”
Trial Starts in Texas Voter ID Case
The Brennan Center is urging a three-judge panel this week to reject Texas’ restrictive photo ID law. The Center represents the Texas State Conference of the NAACP and the Mexican American Legislative Caucus of the Texas House of Representatives (MALC) in a lawsuit arguing that the Lone Star State’s law erects unnecessary barriers to voting. “Texas’ photo ID law could prevent hundreds of thousands of eligible voters from casting a ballot, including a disproportionate number of minorities,” said Wendy Weiser. “Decades ago, our nation passed the Voting Rights Act to combat this kind of discrimination. We urge the federal court to stand up for voters by blocking this law.” Dechert LLP, the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, the NAACP Office of General Counsel, and the Law Office of Jose Garza are co-counsel in the suit. Texas’ voter ID law is just one in a wave of restrictive voting measures that states adopted in 2011. Together, these laws could make it harder for millions of eligible Americans to vote this November, according to the Brennan Center’s report Voting Law Changes in 2012.
Restrictive Laws Rejected in Two States
Voting rights advocates in Michigan and South Carolina celebrated important victories in the fight against suppressive voting laws last week. Michigan’s governor vetoed a package of restrictive laws last Tuesday. One of the Michigan laws would have made it more difficult to conduct voter registration drives. “Gov. Snyder did the right thing by vetoing this restrictive bill, which would have been bad for Michigan voters and could have violated federal law,” said Diana Kasdan. A few days earlier, the Justice Department refused to approve South Carolina’s voter ID law, which will likely not be in effect for November’s election. The DC District Court moved the trial back to September 24th after the state failed to meet key deadlines. Keesha Gaskins said, “Discriminatory laws like South Carolina’s have no place in America. They disenfranchise voters, particularly minorities. We are pleased Attorney General Eric Holder stepped in to reject this law, and we urge the federal court to do the same.”
Healthcare: The Latest in the New Deal Power Debate – John Kowal
- Seventy-five years ago, Social Security was very nearly derailed by a hostile Supreme Court. When the Court recently announced its decision on healthcare, it seemed like déjà vu all over again.
Corporate Contribution Ban Upheld – Shanna Reulbach
- Amid the excitement over the health care decision, the Fourth Circuit’s major campaign finance decision in a case called United States v. Danielczyk received relatively little attention. However, Reulbach explains, Danielczyk is an important case that affirms the constitutionality of a federal law banning corporations from giving campaign donations directly to candidates.
A Lesson from North Carolina on Challengers – Nicolas Riley
- North Carolina’s challenger law has evolved since it was first used as a tool for voter suppression. It is now “a straightforward — and fair — process for deciding voter challenges before an election.” Riley urges other states to adopt similar safeguards to protect against vote suppression efforts.
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Upcoming Events
- July 19 and 20 – The Brennan Center hosts the annual Community-Oriented Defender Network conference on July 19 and 20 at NYU School of Law.
- “There's …too little accountability for officials who throw up a veil over documents and other information,” The Philadelphia Inquirer editorialized. Editors cited extensively from Brennan Center documents in their call for more transparency and accountability in government classification.
- Wendy Weiser spoke to the Washington Post about the “high-profile test” that Texas’ Voter ID law is facing in U.S. District Court this week.
- Austin American-Statesman reporter Tim Eaton wrote about the impact the new Texas law will have on those who do not have photo ID. He spoke to Keesha Gaskins for a national view.
- Gaskins and Eaton later appeared on Southern California Public Radio to talk about how new voter restrictions such as Texas’ voter ID law will affect the 2012 elections.
- Opponents of voter ID laws around the country are finding ways to mute their impact, according to a National Journal article. Wendy Weiser told reporter Naureen Khan that the new laws are more restrictive than previous laws.
- In a July 4 op-ed for CNN.com, Lawrence Norden urged Americans to “honor our Founding Fathers and ensure their bold ideals of equality of opportunity are upheld.” “Let's make our election system better, and reject measures that restrict access to the polls,” he wrote.
- A Detroit Free Press article on Gov. Rick Snyder’s surprising decision to veto some of his state’s new voting restrictions uses Brennan Center maps to show the number of states around the country that have passed suppressive voting laws.
- Thomas Giovanni appeared on MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow Show to talk to guest host Ezra Klein about how court fees that are meant to raise money for states often do not generate revenue and just end up penalizing the poor people caught in the criminal justice system.
- Diana Kasdan spoke to Bloomberg about Florida’s decision to appeal an order that blocks its new voter-registration rules.
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