Every year we come together to honor the legacy of Justice Brennan, to support the organization that bears his name, to commit together to work for democracy and justice and the rule of law. It is a time for joy. For community.
Tonight, we gather at a time of crisis. At the founding, Thomas Paine wrote, “In America, the law is king.” Today, we are finding out if that is still true. Attacks on the rule of law — on judges, on law firms, on news organizations, on universities, on civil rights laws and voting rights enforcement — that threaten American democracy itself. A relentless drive for unchecked executive power. Everything is on the line.
So tonight’s dinner is more than a chance to celebrate. It is a chance for us to speak out. To say, together, as a community: we will stand up for the Constitution — we will stand up for the rule of law — we will stand up for the country we love. And we won’t back down.
Tonight we will honor Gov. Wes Moore of Maryland, a visionary leader whom we had the privilege of working with here in New York . . . and the cast and creators of Suffs, a Tony award winning musical about the fierce fight for the vote for women.
Thirty years ago the Brennan Center was a scrappy startup. Now we have grown into a flagship organization – the country’s largest and longest standing nonpartisan legal and policy institute devoted to strengthening our democracy. We thank our partners at NYU Law — and thank you to Dean Troy McKenzie for joining us tonight.
We do all our work with a democracy movement, deep and wide and strong. I want to acknowledge the leaders of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, the League of Women Voters, the Center for Reproductive Rights, the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, Democracy Forward, Fair Fight Action, All Voting Is Local, Gov Act, Democracy Sentry, Campaign Legal Center, Do Something, New York Common Cause, and more. We are honored to have you here tonight. And in this great fight over the meaning of the Constitution, we are proud to stand with courageous state and local officials — and I want to acknowledge especially to our friend, Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg.
The Brennan Center was built for this moment. So what are we doing now, in 2025, to meet this challenge?
We are responding with force and focus to the abuse of power. We have the country’s deepest expertise on the emergency powers subject to abuse — and now being abused. I don’t know about you, but I haven’t really thought about the Alien & Sedition Acts since high school history. Now the whole country knows about Alien Enemies Act of 1798. It has only been used three times before, in wartime — most notoriously to detain innocent Japanese and other nationals in World War II. Now it is being used in peacetime, in ways that boggle the mind. When a president declares an emergency to evade the rule of law and deny due process — that is not only wrong, it is illegal.
We are part of the great legal fight now underway. Our allies have won 135 court victories against a presidential lawbreaking spree unprecedented in American history. These court rulings, especially in the trial courts, are incredibly heartening. Now comes the next phase, and this is where the Brennan Center comes in. What we call our Constitutional Crisis Litigation Project is coordinating and writing friend-of-the-court briefs in the flotilla of major cases that are headed toward the Supreme Court on the meaning of the Constitution, the meaning of checks and balances, the meaning of what it means to have a country bound by the Constitution.
And we are determined to ensure that the voters have their say as the most important voices in our system. We must have a free and fair election in 2026 and beyond.
We lead opposition to the SAVE Act, which would require Americans to produce a passport or birth certificate to register and vote, documents 21 million people lack ready access to. It would be the worst voting law ever passed by Congress. It passed the House. But here’s what I have to report to you tonight: We all know that in politics one day can be a lifetime, but as of tonight I am increasingly confident that in the United States Senate we have the votes to beat the SAVE Act. And even if it does not come up for a vote, we need to remember that is a huge victory and we shouldn’t just stroll by. We should realize we have the power if we use it.
That is a taste of the work we’re doing right now. The intensity in our office, the intensity in our community, is something I’ve never experienced. We’re fighting the abuse of power. But that cannot be all we do.
A crisis like this can bring innovation. New ideas, new strategies. We must think anew. What will matter most is not what we are against — but what we are for.
For the first time since the 1800s, the incumbent party lost the White House three times in a row. Millions of Americans believe that government does not work for them — and when a system fails to deliver a sense of prosperity and well-being, attachment to democracy can grow perilously weak.
So the Brennan Center is going to do what we’ve done before when we helped craft the Freedom to Vote Act, helped to develop the next generation of reforms.
Reforms to meet, for example, this outlandish new era of money-drenched politics. This was one of the very first issues the Brennan Center worked on when we represented John McCain before the U.S. Supreme Court. I believe it is the most powerful emerging issue facing our country. We need more than outrage. We need new thinking.
We’re working on criminal justice reform, a genuine left-right issue, a bipartisan priority, where we’re going to say: public safety and fairness go hand in hand. We must fight fear with facts.
We’re going to work on the reform of those very emergency powers I discussed, where our allies include Sen. Rand Paul and Sen. Mike Lee. This is not a partisan issue standing up for the Constitution.
And we’re going to continue our drive in response to challenges in our courts to enact an 18-year term limit for Supreme Court justices. We believe nobody should have too much public power for too long.
If the Justice Department has been destroyed what is our plan to rebuild it? What is the affirmative, nonpartisan, innovative agenda for action that can reform government without the cruelty and stupidity of DOGE? Beyond defending norms and institutions what can we do to bring a rebirth of the public spirit?
The problem with Project 2025 was not that they wrote it down. It is incumbent upon all of us who want a different future to be just as clear, just as ambitious, as those who would undermine our democracy.
Vice President JD Vance has said that America is not an “idea.” We disagree.
I am the grandson of immigrants who fled Lithuania and Ukraine for the haven this country provided for Jews. Others were brought here in chains. Others came in ships and planes and by foot, fleeing famine and persecution and seeking what this country had to offer. To all of us at the Brennan Center, America is an idea, however tarnished. American is a promise. And we are determined to keep it.
Next year is the 250th anniversary of American independence.
We must be patriots.
As lawyers, we have a duty to fight back.
As New Yorkers, we have a duty to fight back.
As Americans, we have a duty to fight back.
And if we do, then out of this crisis, out of this moment of challenge and sometimes despair, can come the rebirth of American democracy.
All of you make our work in this great effort possible. Your generosity and commitment fuel our efforts and give us the wind at our backs. And so if I may quote Justice Brennan from the opening video, “thank you, thank you, thank you.”