Josh Bell

Managing Editor (Web), Brennan Center for Justice at NYU Law. Opinions are my own, facts are not.

[Daniel I. Weiner @DanWeiner329]

BREAKING: we released a new poll of registered voters this morning showing record levels of concern across the political spectrum about government corruption— 92 percent said it was a big problem. https://t.co/mDCVOPS4lL

[Barack Obama @BarackObama]

Today’s Supreme Court decision effectively guts a key pillar of the Voting Rights Act, freeing state legislatures to gerrymander legislative districts to systematically dilute and weaken the voting power of racial minorities - so long as they do it under the guise of “partisanship” rather than explicit “racial bias.” And it serves as just one more example of how a majority of the current Court seems intent on abandoning its vital role in ensuring equal participation in our democracy and protecting the rights of minority groups against majority overreach.

The good news is that such setbacks can be overcome. But that will only happen if citizens across the country who cherish our democratic ideals continue to mobilize and vote in record numbers - not just in the upcoming midterms or in high profile races, but in every election and every level.

[Sean Morales-Doyle @smoralesdoyle]

Today @wapo reported activists are urging Trump to declare an emergency based on claims of Chinese interference in the 2020 election and use emergency powers to dramatically alter election rules. Trump has no power to run elections, even in an emergency. 🧵https://t.co/11xLoVAw4x

[Elizabeth Goitein @LizaGoitein]

Yesterday we learned that the Department of Justice is monitoring and tracking members of Congress’s searches of the Epstein files. There’s no sugar coating it: the administration is spying on lawmakers as they exercise their constitutional oversight responsibilities. 1/10

[Sean Morales-Doyle @smoralesdoyle]

In @nytopinion, I explain why we should take Trump's recent threat to "take over" elections seriously and how we can fight back against his attempts to undermine democracy. https://t.co/XBiiYJyDfJ

[Brennan Center @BrennanCenter]

ICE has long used the latest spy tech to pursue immigrants — but now it’s also targeting anti-ICE protesters.

[Jason Meisner @jmetr22b]

Ellis starts out by saying "Chicago is home to many artists and poets and one of them is Carl Sandberg who wrote a poem 'Chicago'"
She's now quoting from it: "Hog butcher for the world"

[Elizabeth Goitein @LizaGoitein]

My take on the appellate courts' rulings in the Nat'l Guard cases, & why SCOTUS should follow the approach of the 7th Circuit (which held that the deployment was untethered to the facts), not the 9th Circuit (which accepted the admin's alternate reality): https://t.co/VbHs7k8tZa

[Daniel I. Weiner @DanWeiner329]

Why should you care that the president’s appointees at DOJ, including his former personal attorneys, could decide whether he gets a $230M payout directly to him? Because that money is coming directly from all of us, the U.S. taxpayers. https://t.co/aaHEILwFu3

[Kareem Crayton @KareemCrayton]

Listening to today’s #SCOTUS arguments in Louisiana v. Callais, and it is remarkable how far this questioning departs from the logic that gave rise to the whole racial gerrymandering legal standard in the 1990s. Here’s why:

[Elizabeth Goitein @LizaGoitein]

President Trump’s deployment of National Guard troops to Portland is off — for now. Last night, Judge Karin Immergut, a Trump appointee, issued a temporary restraining order prohibiting the deployment of ANY federalized National Guard forces in Portland. 1/7

[TIME @TIME]

An investigation from the Brennan Center highlights the impact of a little-known federal force which was deployed in LA, writes Spencer Reynolds
https://t.co/SjqS6tAYVN

[Michael Waldman @mawaldman]

Gerrymandering is really bad for representative democracy. Voters should choose politicians, not the other way around. Gerrymanders mean less choice, less representation, less accountability - and more polarization. 1/6

[Daniel I. Weiner @DanWeiner329]

This isn’t getting nearly the attention it deserves. Congress is proposing a 10-year moratorium on state AI laws. Our review found that this could nullify at least 149 laws passed in 41 states. 86 of those laws (58 percent) were passed by Republicans.

[Lauren-Brooke (L.B.) Eisen @lbeisen]

ICYMI, DHS has released new guidance that could make it nearly impossible for members of Congress to perform their oversight duties to ensure migrants being held in certain ICE facilities are treated in a humane way. 1/8 https://t.co/1wcvg2JYFd

[Elizabeth Goitein @LizaGoitein]

Trump has federalized at least 2,000 National Guard forces and reportedly plans to deploy troops to Los Angeles over Governor Newsom’s objections. If that happens, it will be the first time since 1965 that a president has sent troops into a state without a state request. 1/19

[Daniel I. Weiner @DanWeiner329]

A foreign government is gifting the president a “flying palace” luxury plane that his library gets to keep after he leaves office so that he can reportedly keep using it. It should be obvious why this is a big problem if true. https://t.co/CQtoOE3hbA

[Alicia Bannon @alicia_bannon]

CJ Roberts is exactly right re: judicial impeachment: "For more than two centuries, it has been established that impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision. The normal appellate review process exists for that purpose." /1 https://t.co/fjrjiouMsE

[Daniel I. Weiner @DanWeiner329]

Let's talk more about President Trump's unilateral move to fire the sitting @FEC chair when multiple complaints are pending before the agency involving Trump and his top donor-turned-right hand man Elon Musk. This sets a dangerous precedent for the watchdog agency. 1/

[Robyn Sanders @Robyn_NSanders]

As a N.C. native, former N.C. Supreme Court law clerk, & advocate for civic fairness, I am disgusted by the spectacle unfolding in the halls of the state’s highest court. It released this order tonight, https://t.co/KOp00zoo23, w/ an awful concurrence by Chief Justice Newby. 🧵