Brennan Center for Justice

Experts Discuss Practical Proposals to Meet Gideon’s Promise

Tuesday, the Brennan Center co-hosted a roundtable discussion with The New Press to launch a new report with three reforms to revive the right to counsel. The panel at New York’s John Jay College of Criminal Justice discussed Gideon v. Wainwright, the landmark Supreme Court decision that established the right to counsel for the poor. “The routine denial of effective legal representation for poor defendants, coupled with the over-criminalization of petty offenses, feed our mass incarceration problem at great social and economic costs,” reads the report, co-written by Thomas Giovanni (right) and Roopal Patel. The event also featured Karen Houppert, author of “Chasing Gideon,” published by The New Press. See photos of the event here.

Latest Wave of New York Corruption Arrests Renews Calls for Fair Elections

Two New York state legislators were arrested on bribery and corruption charges earlier this month, and it was disclosed that a third lawmaker had worked as an undercover informant for several years to avoid prosecution. “As these scandals make clear, there is an urgent need to boost New Yorkers’ confidence in their elected officials,” Lawrence Norden, Democracy Program deputy director, said at a City Hall press conference. “To do this, legislative leaders need to move on small donor public financing and comprehensive reform as soon as they’re back in session.” See a New York Times video of the press conference, which also featured NY LEAD members, and photos. Read more at Reuters and the Epoch Times.

New York Police Inspector General Can Improve Community Relations

The New York Police Department’s practice of stopping and frisking, as well as its widespread surveillance of Muslims as part of its counterterrorism efforts, has severely strained relations with minorities. Noting that there has been little assurance that the NYPD is following its own rules for upholding equal treatment and searching only on the basis of reasonable suspicion, Faiza Patel writes in The New York Times that an independent inspector general “could help the police ease these concerns and hew closer to constitutional requirements in their efforts to keep the city safe.” Brennan Center Chief Counsel Fritz Schwarz and Victor Kovner, both former New York City corporation counsels, co-wrote a Daily News op-ed enumerating other benefits of independent oversight. See the Center’s report, A Proposal for an NYPD Inspector General, and this fact vs. fiction explainer. Also read how an independent monitor will improve LGBT police relations.

Several States Push Voting Restrictions, Others Reform

State lawmakers this year continue to introduce measures that will make it harder to vote, with 80 restrictive bills introduced in 31 states, according to a new Brennan Center 50-state survey. Virginia and Arkansas have already passed photo ID measures, and North Carolina legislators are considering a package of bills to cut early voting, require a photo ID, eliminate same-day registration, and make it more difficult for students to register. But there is also some good news. Voting reform proposals have been launched by both political parties nationwide. Republicans introduced bills to implement early voting in Missouri and expand it in Florida. Colorado Democrats introduced a bill to increase registration opportunities and modernize elections. And Virginia passed a GOP-sponsored online registration law. Read more on voting changes at MSNBC and The Nation.

From the Brennan Center Blog

The Voting Rights Act Becomes More Vital By the Day – Andrew Cohen

• The continued drive for voting restrictions in the states shows the Voting Rights Act is more important than ever. Instead of selected states being required under the Voting Rights Act to show that voting law changes are not discriminatory, why not apply the same standard to all of them?

Protecting Student Voters in New Hampshire – Lucy Zhou

• The New Hampshire House voted to eliminate misleading language on its registration forms that was especially confusing for student voters. The state Senate should follow the House’s lead.

Guess Who’s Paying for Judicial Seminars? – Matthew Menendez

• A new report from the Center for Public Integrity reveals nearly 200 federal judges attended seminars sponsored by foundations and multinational corporations that frequently litigate in federal courts.

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• The Brennan Center’s research on burdensome court fees was cited in articles by the Associated Press and CBS News. Inimai Chettiar called these modern-day debtor’s prisons “a growing problem nationally, particularly because of the economic crisis.”
• Michael Waldman discussed voting reform on MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews. He explained how reforms such as early voting “ought not to be partisan, and in the past, they didn’t used to be partisan. It shouldn’t matter what party you’re in, it shouldn’t matter what state you’re in.”
• Adam Skaggs was quoted in The Journal News, a suburban paper north of New York City, discussing the need for campaign finance reform in New York state. He explained how a package of reform bills currently being negotiated in the state legislature “would cost an estimated $2 a person per year and save money by gearing government toward the people.”
• Moyers & Company cited the Brennan Center’s report about community-oriented defense in a roundup on sources about the legacy of Gideon v. Wainwright.
• North Carolina is poised to eliminate a successful judicial public financing program. Instead, the legislature should preserve and expand it, Alicia Bannon writes in The Charlotte Observer, because “since its introduction, the public financing program has helped candidates avoid the wild fundraising that used to characterize the state’s judicial races.”
• The Associated Press cited the Brennan Center and Justice at Stake’s joint research on television-ad spending in the 2013 Wisconsin Supreme Court race, reporting that nearly 70 percent of money spent on ads came from conservative interest groups.

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