WILLIAM J BRENNAN JR CENTER FOR JUSTICE INC

Ensure Every American Can Vote - The Brennan Center is fighting on every front to ensure that all eligible Americans can cast a ballot. We promote solutions that would modernize and standardize voting access policies across the nation and make it easier for eligible Americans to register and to vote. We advance policies to re-enfranchise Americans who are living in the community, and we fight policies that make it harder for Americans with past convictions to vote.

Government and Court Reform - We advocate for protecting judicial independence, guarding against special interest influence on the courts, and achieving a diverse bench. And we champion stronger ethics and lobbying rules to stop government dysfunction. We stand up for the rule of law. We pressure Congress to act as a watchdog on the executive branch. And we sound the alarm about the troubling growth of presidential authority.

Reform Money in Politics - The Brennan Center is working to build a better system, pushing for public financing that matches small donations with public money, and regulations to eliminate illegal foreign spending. And we are waging a long-term fight to overturn misguided Supreme Court rulings that weaken crucial campaign finance protections.

End Mass Incarcerartion - The Brennan Center works to expose the huge social and economic costs of mass incarceration. We debunk false claims about rising crime. We fight for reforms to sentencing and bail. And we develop transformative legislative proposals like the Reverse Mass Incarceration Act.

The Brennan Center is known for our expertise in the areas of voting rights, criminal justice reform, government and fair court reform, and redistricting reform. In these areas and in others related to the U.S. Constitution, American democracy, and the rule of the law, the Brennan Center has the staff, expertise, and resources to do the following:

Devise fresh, practical, data-driven, bipartisan legal and policy reforms backed up by high caliber, rigorous research. The Center works tirelessly to ensure that lawmakers enact these vital policy reforms and advance democracy and justice.

Collaborate with grassroots groups, advocacy organizations, and reform-minded government officials, we contribute cutting edge legal strategy, innovative policy development, empirical research for legal and policy efforts, and high-impact communications to advance our goals.

Seek effective national security policies that respect constitutional values and the rule of law while protecting our people.

The Brennan Center uses a combination of inter-disciplinary research, innovative policy development, legislative advocacy, litigation, and communications work to win meaningful, measurable change in the public sector. Our innovative approach to legal reform is bipartisan, driven by data and practicality soundly backed by rigorous research. Our staff experts work to ensure that lawmakers enact these new laws to advance democracy and justice. And if these laws are challenged, we defend their legality and reasonability in the courtroom. We also pursue litigation to block or overturn laws that dismantle existing protections or further restrict rights, and file friend-of-the-court briefs rich with data to inform courts of the practical effects of legal arguments.

The Brennan Center tracks the number of state voting laws enacted, including those that restrict voting access and those increasing election interference (https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/voting-laws-roundup-october-2022)
The Brennan Center sued the Trump administration's third Muslim ban as being unconstitutional - and won (https://www.brennancenter.org/press-release/brennan-center-wins-suit-against-trumps-third-muslim-ban-us-supreme-court-next)
The Brennan Center successfully advocated for new election security funding from Congress - $380 million to support improved measures (https://www.brennancenter.org/press-release/new-election-security-funds-are-breakthrough-democracy)
The Brennan Center's signature proposal, Automatic Voter Registration, is now approved in 20 states and the District of Columbia (https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/automatic-voter-registration-summary)
The Brennan Center issued a report showing continuing declines in crime rates - a report which US AG Sessions recently touted (https://www.brennancenter.org/crime-murder-2018)
Brennan Center's experts testified before Congress in 2019 on the National Emergency Powers Act and election security. Our testimony resulted in Congress opting to modify the National Emergency Powers Act, and allocating an addition $425 million to support states in updating their ballot and election processing networks, as well as to improve security measures against cyberattacks.
The Brennan Center partnered with grassroots coalitions in Florida to successfully restore voting rights to over 1.4 million Floridians in 2018, previously denied this right because of past felony convictions.

We will continue to protect American democracy and justice through our efforts, thanks to our supporters!