Statement

On August 17, the Brennan Center joined a coalition letter to New York City’s Automated Decision Systems Task Force, recommending policies and procedures to govern the use of algorithmic systems in city government.

The Email Privacy Act would help bring laws on electronic communications into line with existing law enforcement practices, court precedent, and individual expectations of privacy. The Act was included in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2019 as passed by the House on May 24, 2018. The bill will go into conference shortly to be reconciled with the Senate-passed version of the NDAA. On July 13, 2018, the Brennan Center joined with 52 other civil liberties groups and technology firms to urge Congress to include the Email Privacy Act in the final NDAA.

The prison reform bill being considered by Congress includes several important improvements, but in a letter to Senate leadership the Brennan Center notes that any true reform effort must take steps to reduce the number of people entering prison in the first place.

The Brennan Center, joined by 56 other civil and human rights organizations, today submitted comments to the U.S. Department of State on its plan to collect additional information, such as social media identifiers, telephone numbers, and email addresses used in the past five years from U.S. visa applicants

The Brennan Center submitted a comment to the Federal Elections Commission urging the Commission to improve transparency in election advertisement spending by strengthening the rules for disclaimers on political ads online.

On May 14, 2018, the Brennan Center for Justice filed two Freedom of Information Act requests with the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, seeking communications and documents relating to the 2018 Omnibus Act’s provision of Help America Vote Act funds to states for election security.

The new prison reform bill being considered by the House Judiciary Committee, the FIRST STEP Act, includes several important reforms and improves on prior legislation. But any true reform effort must take steps to reduce the number of people entering prison in the first place, which this bill does not do.

The narrow prison reform bill backed by the White House and being considered by Congress is an incomplete starting point for fixing our broken justice system, the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law said in this letter to Judiciary Committee leadership in Congress.

The Brennan Center joined civil rights, criminal justice reform, and faith-based organizations on a letter opposing the punitive aspects of the Trump Administration’s plan to combat the opioid crisis.

Citing concerns raised by the Brennan Center and other civil liberties and civil rights organizations about the Extreme Vetting Initiative in letters submitted in November 2017, the Congressional Black Caucus today called on Secretary Nielsen to suspend all activities related to ICE’s Extreme Vetting Initiative (aka Visa Lifecycle Vetting).