Twelve Steps to Restore Checks and Balances
This report proposes specific reforms designed to keep the nation secure and free, as the Constitution’s framers intended.
Research Report
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What Caused the Crime Decline?
Crime declined dramatically nationwide over the past two decades. We reviewed more than 40 years of data from all 50 states and the 50 largest cities to determine why. -
Fair Courts: Setting Recusal Standards
The paper describes the increasing threats to the impartiality of America’s state courts and argues that they have been spurred by two trends: the growing influence of money in judicial elections and the dismantling of codes of judicial ethics. -
Foreign Law Bans: Legal Uncertainties and Practical Problems
Fueled by a growing tide of anti-Muslim sentiment, these bans create a host of unintended consequences ranging from confusion over how courts should treat marriages, divorces and premarital agreements with religious or foreign origins to uncertainty over how international businesses conduct commercial transactions in the United States.
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Election Spending 2016: Three Interests Dominate, Shadow Parties Rise
Our latest analysis of outside spending in 2016's top Senate races shows the increasing dominance of just three interests and the dramatic rise of party-affiliated “shadow parties.” -
Democracy & Justice: Collected Writings, 2008
Compiled at the end of 2008, the following annual includes excerpts from reports, policy proposals, and issue briefs, as well as excerpted material from public remarks, legal briefs, congressional testimony, and op-ed pieces written by Brennan Center staff. -
The New Era of Secret Law
An unprecedented buildup of secret law has been created by the federal government since 9/11 through legal memos, court rulings, agreements with foreign nations, and more. -
De Facto Disenfranchisement
Persistent confusion among election officials about felony disenfranchisement policies leads to the de facto disenfranchisement of untold hundreds of thousands of eligible would-be voters throughout the country. -
Democracy & Justice: Collected Writings, Vol. X
This volume is a sample of the Brennan Center’s work on all fronts in the fight for democracy and justice in 2016 and early 2017. -
Voter Purges Report
This report is one of the first systematic examinations of voter purging, a practice — often controversial — of removing voters from registration lists in order to update state registration rolls.
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