WILLIAM J BRENNAN JR CENTER FOR JUSTICE INC

Protecting Voting Rights - The Center’s signature proposal, automatic voter registration, would save money, increase accuracy and participation — and add an additional 50 million voters to the rolls permanently.

Government and Court Reform - We support fair and impartial courts to promote equal justice and the rule of law. We fight to end government dysfunction and gridlock by curbing filibuster abuse and advocating an effective U.S. Congress. And we champion a transparent, nonpartisan redistricting process that provides fair and meaningful representation.

Justice for All - The Brennan Center’s Justice Program seeks to secure our nation’s promise of “equal justice for all” by creating a rational, effective, and fair justice system. Its priority focus is to reduce mass incarceration while keeping down crime. The program melds law, policy, and economics to produce new empirical analyses and innovative policy solutions to advance this critical goal.

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!