Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act has been crucial to challenging restrictive laws and protecting minority voting rights. This report analyzes new implications — that have so far gone largely unnoted — if the Court takes the extraordinary step of striking down this key provision.
The Brennan Center, along with over a hundred fair lending advocates, sent the following letter to the monitor of the national mortgage settlement, urging him to improve public knowledge of banks' consumer relief activities and to more aggressively enforce the settlement's requirements.
In America today, 2.3 million people are in jail or prison, 6 million if you count people on probation or out on parole. Over a quarter of our nation’s population (65 million) have a criminal record. None of this is acceptable in a civilized nation, yet it's all fixable if our leaders exercise the will to do so.
Virginia currently has the Online Registration component of Voter Registration Modernization in place. Virginia also has electronic pollbooks in at least one county.
Fifty years ago today, the Supreme Court recognized the constitutional right to an attorney for criminal defendants, even when they cannot afford one. Today, however, "the sad truth is that there is no universal right to counsel."
