Brennan Center for Justice

A Signature Day for Criminal Justice Reform                                                         

Last week saw major news in the world of criminal justice. On Monday, U.S. Southern District Judge Shira A. Scheindlin found the New York Police Department’s stop-and-frisk policy unconstitutional. She appointed a federal monitor to oversee compliance and reform the practice. The Brennan Center has advocated for an inspector general for the NYPD, who would have a broader department-wide mandate to ensure transparency, protect civil liberties and work cooperatively to effectuate change. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg (I) vetoed a bill to create an inspector general last month.  The New York City Council is expected to vote on overturning the veto later this week.

Also last Monday, Attorney General Eric Holder announced, in a speech to the American Bar Association, a new federal policy to remove mandatory minimum drug sentences for low-level, nonviolent offenders. The policy is aimed at easing overcrowding in federal prisons. Inimai Chettiar wrote in US News & World Report, “One hopes Holder's policy shift spurs Congress to convert his words into the force of law.”

Florida Resumes Voter Purge

Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R) recently announced that the state would renew its purge of the voting rolls that was halted before last year’s election. Purportedly intended to remove non-citizens from the voting lists, these efforts can disproportionately affect duly-registered minority voters. Florida joins Texas, Mississippi, North Carolina, Alabama, and others that have moved to restrict voting rights in the wake of the June Supreme Court ruling voiding a key provision of the Voting Rights Act. Watch Wendy Weiser (left) on MSNBC’s Hardball discuss Florida’s new effort. Read more about voting legislation across the country in the 2013 Voting Laws Roundup.

Commentary & Analysis

• The Next Phase of the War on Drugs – Andrew Cohen
• The Decline of the Prison Population – Inimai Chettiar

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Brennan Center in the News

• The Obama Administration released a 22-page “white paper” outlining the legal rationales for the National Security Agency’s massive surveillance programs. “A lot of Americans would say if the government isn’t investigating a specific crime, then it has no business collecting every American’s records,” Elizabeth Goitein (right) told The Washington Post.  Learn more about the national debate on surveillance and watch Goitein on MSNBC’s All in With Chris Hayes.
• Peter Zimroth of Arnold & Porter was appointed to monitor the NYPD’s compliance with Judge Scheindlin’s orders on stop-and-frisk (see above). “Peter is an extremely fair-minded person,” Frederick A. O. Schwarz Jr., who preceded Zimroth as New York City’s Corporation Counsel told The New York Times. “He understands how government works. He also understands the importance of good policing and civil liberties.”
• The Brennan Center for Justice and Justice at Stake filed an amicus brief in support of a petition asking the Arizona Supreme Court to overturn a law that changes the merit selection process for judicial candidates. The measure “purports to amend the Arizona constitution by statute and … encompasses an unconstitutional violation of basic separation of powers precepts,” the Brennan Center’s Matthew Menendez wrote.

Read more Brennan Center in the news here.