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Brennan Center Live

76 episodes - English - Latest episode: over 3 years ago - ★★★★★ - 20 ratings

A podcast from the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law.

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Episodes

Anne Applebaum on the Twilight of Democracy

October 28, 2020 11:00 - 33 minutes - 61.2 MB

What role do members of the cultural and media elite play in the ascent of nationalist rule? In her new book, Twilight of Democracy, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and historian Anne Applebaum examines the surrogates who enable autocracy. She discusses the patterns of weakening democracies around the world with Washington Post columnist Max Boot.

Martin Garbus and the Cuban Five

July 08, 2020 10:00 - 19 minutes - 27.3 MB

In his most recent book, North of Havana, legendary trial lawyer Martin Garbus recounts one of his most high-profile cases: the Cuban Five. In this episode of Brennan Center Live, Garbus talks to Victoria Bassetti about what this case can teach us about the U.S. justice system, American politics, and U.S.-Cuba relations.

Supreme Inequality

June 24, 2020 09:00 - 26 minutes - 35.7 MB

In recent years, the Supreme Court has empowered moneyed interests to wield disproportionate influence in elections, gutted the Voting Rights Act, and upheld President Trump’s travel ban. These decisions fit a troubling, decades-long pattern, argues journalist Adam Cohen. He talks with NYU Law professor Melissa Murray about his new book, Supreme Inequality: The Supreme Court’s Fifty-Year Battle for a More Unjust America, and his finding that since the Nixon era, the Court has done little to ...

George Washington: You Never Forget Your First

June 10, 2020 09:00 - 35 minutes - 49.4 MB

How did George Washington view the presidency? What might he think of politics today? Historian Alexis Coe examines America's first president in a freshly humanizing light in her new book You Never Forget Your First. She talks with Julian Zelizer in this new episode of Brennan Center Live.

Susan Rice on Things Worth Fighting For

June 03, 2020 09:00 - 23 minutes - 32.4 MB

In her memoir Tough Love: My Story of the Things Worth Fighting For, former National Security Advisor and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice reveals pivotal moments from her career on the front lines of U.S. diplomacy and foreign policy. In this episode of Brennan Center Live, Rice talks with NBC News’ Andrea Mitchell about the current state of foreign affairs and the challenges facing American leadership. What are the greatest threats to democracy around the world? To what ext...

Election Meltdown

May 27, 2020 09:00 - 25 minutes - 34.3 MB

The coronavirus pandemic has exposed several problems with the American elections system, but even outside of global pandemic, Americans are increasingly questioning the fairness and accuracy of our elections. In his new book Election Meltdown: Dirty Tricks, Distrust, and the Threat to American Democracy, law professor Richard L. Hasen examines sources of voters’ distrust. In this new episode of Brennan Center Live, he speaks with legal expert Victoria Bassetti and proposes steps to restore ...

When Should Law Forgive?

May 20, 2020 09:00 - 33 minutes - 46.2 MB

When Should Law Forgive?, former Harvard Law School dean Martha Minow argues that we should build forgiveness into the administration of American law. She speaks with NYU Law Professor Melissa Murray in this new episode of Brennan Center Live."}" data-sheets-userformat= "{"2":13245,"3":{"1":0},"5":{"1":[{"1":2,"2":0,"5":{"1":2,"2":0}},{"1":0,"2":0,"3":3},{"1":1,"2":0,"4":1}]},"6":{"1":[{"1":2,"2":0,"5":{"1":2,"2":0}},{"1":0,"2":0,"3":3},{"1":1,"2":0,"4":1}]},"7":{"1":[{"1":2,"2":0,"5":{"1":2...

The Fight for Reproductive Rights

May 13, 2020 10:00 - 33 minutes - 45.8 MB

Nearly half a century after Roe v. Wade, the U.S. Supreme Court seems poised to undermine or overturn the landmark ruling. It’s an unnerving time for reproductive rights across the U.S., but it’s not new: social movements, politics, and courts have lead us here. Legal experts Melissa Murray, Reva Siegel, and Kate Shaw trace the evolution of reproductive rights in their new book, Reproductive Rights and Justice Stories. They join Rebecca Traister (Writer at large, New York Magazine) in this n...

The Revolution in Prosecutors’ Offices

April 15, 2020 09:00 - 43 minutes - 40.2 MB

District attorneys wield tremendous power and have for decades been a driving force in mass incarceration. In her new book Charged: The New Movement to Transform American Prosecution and End Mass Incarceration, journalist Emily Bazelon follows a new crop of district attorneys who are using their offices to pursue criminal justice reform. She discusses these efforts with district attorneys Kimberly M. Foxx and Eric Gonzalez, Fair and Just Prosecution’s Miriam Krinsky, and the Brennan Center’s...

How Progressives Can Compete for Power

April 08, 2020 09:00 - 41 minutes - 38.4 MB

Policies supported by a majority of Americans are stymied in Washington and state capitals time and again. Enacting this agenda requires progressives to redouble their efforts at gaining power by expanding the franchise, ending voter suppression, and winning judicial elections, argues Caroline Fredrickson, former president of the American Constitution Society, in conversation with Eric Lesh. Fredrickson’s new book is The Democracy Fix: How to Win the Fight for Fair Rules, Fair Courts, and Fa...

The Great Migration’s Complicated Legacy

April 01, 2020 09:00 - 44 minutes - 41.1 MB

African Americans fleeing racial terror in the South sought refuge in the North but instead encountered discrimination in housing, employment, and policing. Marcia Chatelain, Kenisha Grant, Ted Johnson, and Mark Whitaker discuss the history of the Great Migration and how it reverberates in mass incarceration and voter suppression today. Brennan Center Live is a podcast created from Brennan Center events, featuring fascinating conversations with well-known thinkers on issues like democracy,...

How the Tumultuous ’70s Shaped Our Political Conflicts

March 25, 2020 09:00 - 40 minutes - 37.5 MB

The upheavals of the 1970s — the Watergate cover-up, defeat in Vietnam, racial conflict, and economic convulsions — formed the contours of today’s polarization, argue Princeton historians Kevin M. Kruse and Julian E. Zelizer. They joined Soledad O’Brien to discuss their new book, Fault Lines: A History of the United States Since 1974. Brennan Center Live is a podcast created from Brennan Center events, featuring fascinating conversations with well-known thinkers on issues like democracy, j...

Preet Bharara on Crime, Punishment, and the Rule of Law

March 18, 2020 09:00 - 40 minutes - 37.5 MB

Reflecting on a distinguished prosecutorial career, former U.S. attorney Preet Bharara discusses the need for lawyers to take into account flaws in the legal system and in human nature in his new book, Doing Justice: A Prosecutor’s Thoughts on Crime, Punishment, and the Rule of Law. He is joined by political commentator Margaret Hoover. Brennan Center Live is a podcast created from Brennan Center events, featuring fascinating conversations with well-known thinkers on issues like democracy...

Ta-Nehisi Coates on Race, the Law, and Politics

March 11, 2020 09:00 - 40 minutes - 36.7 MB

Journalism and cultural production are crucial to making law and policy, Ta-Nehisi Coates argues, because they expand peoples’ empathy and imagination. In a wide-ranging conversation, the celebrated journalist discusses criminal justice reform, the 2020 election, the #MeToo movement, and more with NYU law professor Melissa Murray. 

Lessons From Watergate

November 29, 2018 10:00 - 30 minutes - 41.3 MB

Watergate revealed a trail of crimes and coverups that brought down a president and changed the course of American history. With Robert Mueller's findings likely to be unveiled soon, what can we learn from Watergate about Trump-era abuses of power? John Dean, who was President Nixon's White House counsel, and Elizabeth Holtzman, who as a member of the House Judiciary Committee voted to impeach Nixon, discuss. Brennan Center Live is a weekly series of podcasts created from Brennan Center eve...

Van Jones, Darren Walker: How To End Mass Incarceration

November 20, 2018 10:00 - 38 minutes - 87.1 MB

America has five percent of the world’s population, but nearly a quarter of its prisoners. Now, a dynamic movement for change is sweeping the country. CNN host Van Jones and Ford Foundation president Darren Walker on how to keep the momentum going.  Brennan Center Live is a weekly series of podcasts created from Brennan Center events, featuring fascinating conversations with well-known thinkers on issues like democracy, justice, race, and the Constitution.

Carol Anderson: One Person, No Vote

November 03, 2018 09:00 - 58 minutes - 133 MB

New York Times best-selling author Carol Anderson speaks with Cornell Brooks about her new book on racist voter suppression and the fight against it. Anderson focuses in particular on the drive to weaken the landmark Voting Rights Act, and argues that voter suppression ultimately aims to make its targets lose faith in democracy itself. Ensuring that doesn’t happen could hardly be a more urgent task.   Brennan Center Live is a weekly series of podcasts created from Brennan Center events, ...

Voter Suppression 2018

October 30, 2018 08:30 - 58 minutes - 80.1 MB

As crucial elections approach, voters from Georgia to North Dakota to Texas are at risk of disenfranchisement, and the result could be further skewed by extreme gerrymandering. Meanwhile, automatic voter registration could expand access to the polls in several states. How will the battle over voting shape the midterms, and what can we do to make sure every eligible American has a chance to cast a ballot?  Hear from several of America’s top voting rights lawyers — Dego Adegbile, Julie Eben...

Danielle Allen: Cuz – A Memoir of Mass Incarceration

October 24, 2018 08:00 - 35 minutes - 80.8 MB

How did we lose an entire generation to the American prison system following the War on Drugs? In Cuz, The Life and Times of Michael A., the Harvard professor and political theorist Danielle Allen explores the issue through the experience of her cousin, who served 11 years in prison for an attempted carjacking committed when he was 15, then lost his life to violence three years after being released. Allen is joined in conversation by the Brennan Center’s Nicole Austin-Hillery.   Brennan ...

Trumpocracy: A Conversation With David Frum

October 16, 2018 15:16 - 34 minutes - 78.8 MB

Donald Trump poses a grave, long-term threat to our democratic institutions, Atlantic senior editor and former White House speechwriter David Frum has been warning. But, in this wide-ranging conversation with NYU Law School president Trevor Morrison, Frum argues we need to focus not just on Trump’s own behavior, but on “the system of power that enables him.” And Frum explores the ways in which America’s potential retreat from democracy under Trump mirrors developments around the world. Bre...

Van Jones in Conversation with Darren Walker

May 14, 2018 16:26

Mass incarceration is among the nation’s greatest moral and racial injustices. We have five percent of the world’s population, but nearly a quarter of its prisoners. In recent years, a dynamic movement for change has swept across the country. How will it survive the current political climate? CNN host Van Jones, the author of the new book Beyond the Messy Truth, will discuss his drive to cut prison populations in half – and the challenge of fighting for change in a polarized America. He wi...

The 2020 Census: What's at Stake

May 14, 2018 16:24 - 1 hour - 60.1 MB

Every ten years, the federal government conducts the census of all people in the United States. The stakes are extraordinarily high, particularly in light of the push to include questions about citizenship. The tally determines everything from the allocation of congressional seats and the shape of legislative districts, to the flow of vast amounts of government funds. Political pressure is especially high this time, as demographic change transforms the country. In all, it's a potential crisi...

The Constitution vs. Trumpism: Challenges to the Rule of Law in 2018

May 14, 2018 16:15 - 1 hour - 78.4 MB

The courts have proven a key battleground in the fights of the Trump era. On immigration, voting rights, freedom of religion and more, legal advocates are taking on federal policy – and, often, winning. What are these new legal strategies? Will they last? And how can issues of democracy, justice, and the rule of law become burning matters of public – not just legal – debate?   Alexander Heffner, Host, The Open Mind on PBS Becca Heller, Director and Co-Founder, IRAP; Visiting Clinical Le...

Revolution Unfinished: Remembering MLK's Vision for a Nation Transformed

April 11, 2018 14:17 - 1 hour - 85.8 MB

Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., is largely remembered for his campaigns against segregation, his calls for racial brotherhood, and his unwavering commitment to nonviolence. He is less often remembered, however, for his fervent opposition to increasing global militarism, his all-consuming desire to eradicate poverty, and his vision for a transformed and truly participatory democracy. Fifty years after his assassination, former Rep. Donna Edwards and former Republican National Committe...

Decarcerating America: From Mass Punishment to Public Health

April 11, 2018 14:11 - 1 hour - 65.4 MB

There are a shocking 2.2 million Americans behind bars right now, but how can we cure America of its epidemic of mass punishment? Leaders across the criminal justice movement share an array of reform ideas, including improving prison conditions, creating effective youth re-entry programs, changes to the parole model, alternatives for mental health and drug addiction issues, and models of new industries to replace the prison economy. Speakers include Nicole Zayas Fortier, counsel at the Ame...

Policing, Profiling, and Human Rights in the Age of Big Data (DC)

April 10, 2018 22:28 - 1 hour - 79 MB

Big data has produced big change. As anyone with a phone knows, technology has exploded – and created startling amounts of data about our lives. How is this information tracked and stored, and how does that affect our rights? Algorithms trained on big data have transformed law enforcement and social services. Cash-strapped governments have proven especially eager to use automated tools. Some claim to predict crime “hot spots” and even individuals at risk. Others recommend whether to detain o...

Democracy in Danger: Yascha Mounk in Conversation with Wendy Weiser

April 10, 2018 22:15 - 1 hour - 72.3 MB

With social media on the rise, living standards stagnating, and fears of multiethnic democracy growing, voters are discontent with politics. Across the world — from India to Turkey to the United States — authoritarian populists have seized power. In his new book, Yascha Mounk examines how trust in the political system is dwindling as money in politics soars and democracy wanes. How did we get here, and how can we protect democracy moving forward? Yascha Mounk, Lecturer on Political Theory ...

Carnegie Hall Festival on the 1960s: Voting Rights Then and Now

March 13, 2018 19:29 - 1 hour - 76.8 MB

A half century after the Voting Rights Act guaranteed the franchise to all Americans, access to this fundamental right is once again under siege. How did a group of great citizens drive the enactment of the Voting Rights Act? How did the legislation work to secure access to the ballot? Why is its pledge once again under attack? In an extraordinary and relevant conversation, legendary television journalist Bill Moyers — who served as one of President Lyndon Johnson’s top aides during the ci...

The Legacy of Justice Scalia: Rick Hasen in Conversation with Joan Biskupic

March 13, 2018 14:28 - 1 hour - 160 MB

Considered one of the most influential justices to ever serve on the U.S. Supreme Court, Antonin Scalia left behind a complex legacy as a conservative legal thinker and disruptive public intellectual. A vivid writer known for caustic dissents, Justice Scalia was crucial to reshaping jurisprudence during his three decades on the bench. According to Richard Hasen, author of the new book The Justice of Contradictions, Scalia’s jurisprudence and confrontational style disrupted the American legal...

Corporations and the Constitution: Adam Winkler with Dahlia Lithwick

March 12, 2018 19:55 - 1 hour - 15.9 MB

Citizens United. Hobby Lobby. Many Americans had not heard of the movement to expand constitutional rights for businesses before these landmark cases. But the struggle for corporate rights has a long, complicated history in the United States. The first Supreme Court case extending constitutional protections to corporations was decided in 1809, more than a half-century before the first comparable cases for racial minorities or women. In the years since, the nation’s most powerful corporations...

Trumpocracy: David Frum in Conversation with Trevor Morrison

February 26, 2018 20:56 - 1 hour - 159 MB

When can a democracy slide into autocracy? In his provocative new book, Trumpocracy, conservative writer David Frum examines the ways in which Trump and his administration continually undermine our most important public institutions. As Frum argues, Trump has steadily damaged many of the tenets and accepted practices of American democracy in just his first year of presidency, including media freedom, judicial independence, and the right to have one’s vote counted fairly. David Frum is a Se...

Reforming Government Ethics in the Age of Trump

February 05, 2018 21:00 - 1 hour - 214 MB

President Donald Trump’s decision to keep control of his business empire despite apparent conflicts of interest is but one of a number of ethical controversies that have made headlines since Inauguration Day one year ago. As informal guardrails that constrain self-dealing by those in power fall away, what can be done to shore up federal ethics laws to give the public confidence that their leaders will put the interests of the American people first? The panel reviews the most significant ga...

Jennifer Weiss-Wolf: Periods Gone Public (DC)

December 06, 2017 16:56 - 1 hour - 56.4 MB

Join the Brennan Center’s Jennifer Weiss-Wolf, author of Periods Gone Public, and Malaka Gharib, Deputy Editor and Digital Strategist of NPR's Goats and Soda, to learn more about how this campaign emerged, why the issue resonates across party lines, and what is next for “menstrual equity.” Gretchen Borchelt of the National Women's Law Center and Congresswoman Grace Meng, (NY-6), sponsor of the Menstrual Equity for All Act of 2017 (H.R. 972), will introduce the conversation.          

Lauren-Brooke Eisen: Inside Private Prisons (DC)

November 30, 2017 17:16 - 1 hour - 151 MB

Fact: More than 100,000 individuals in the US are held in private prisons and private immigration detention centers. These institutions are criticized for making money off mass incarceration―$5 billion every year―and have become a focus of the anti-mass incarceration movement. The Department of Justice under President Obama attempted to cut off private prisons, while DOJ under Trump has embraced these institutions. Few journalists or scholars have seen these prisons firsthand―until now. Jo...

Katy Tur on the 2016 Election, the Campaign, and Media

November 28, 2017 21:39 - 1 hour - 153 MB

For 510 days, NBC News Correspondent Katy Tur reported on Republican Nominee Donald Trump. She visited forty states with the candidate and made over 3,800 live television reports. Over the course of the year and a half, Trump taunted Tur incessantly, transforming her into a prominent figure in the presidential campaign. As Tur was singled out, colleagues rallied around her and thousands tweeted their support with #ImWithTur. Katy Tur—who recently received a Walter Cronkite Award for Excell...

One Year Under Trump: Solutions for Restoring Law and Democracy

November 28, 2017 21:37 - 1 hour - 164 MB

One year after the election of Donald Trump as president, this special program looks forward and asks: What can we do now? Trump has broken countless unwritten norms of democratic conduct meant to protect against corruption and abuse. In the past, reform often followed abuse, frequently in the form of new laws: the limit of presidential terms, anti-nepotism laws, the special prosecutor law, the War Powers Act, and many others. This panel asks what has been different about this presidency, an...

Lauren-Brooke Eisen: Inside Private Prisons

November 28, 2017 21:35 - 1 hour - 159 MB

Fact: More than 100,000 individuals in the US are held in private prisons and private immigration detention centers. These institutions are criticized for making money off mass incarceration―$5 billion every year―and have become a focus of the anti-mass incarceration movement. The Department of Justice under President Obama attempted to cut off private prisons, while DOJ under Trump has embraced these institutions. Few journalists or scholars have seen these prisons firsthand―until now. Jo...

Jennifer Weiss-Wolf: Periods Gone Public

November 28, 2017 21:33 - 1 hour - 167 MB

In an otherwise treacherous political era for women’s bodies and health, activists and lawmakers are advancing a new, affirmative agenda – for the very first time, one that meshes menstruation and public policy. From tax reform to public benefits to corrections policy, periods have become the surprising force fueling a high-profile, bipartisan movement. Join Congresswoman Grace Meng, (NY-6), sponsor of the Menstrual Equity for All Act of 2017 (H.R. 972); the Brennan Center’s Jennifer Weiss...

Ganesh Sitaraman: The Crisis of the Middle-Class Constitution

October 23, 2017 20:57 - 1 hour - 155 MB

Dive in to this lively dialogue about economics, history, philosophy, law, and politics with Ganesh Sitaraman, author of The Crisis of the Middle-Class Constitution. He makes a compelling case that inequality is more than just a moral or economic problem; it threatens the very core of our American constitutional system.

Extreme Vetting and the Muslim Ban

October 23, 2017 20:44 - 1 hour - 161 MB

Join the Brennan Center and New York Immigration Coalition for a discussion on extreme vetting, the Muslim ban, and the implications for American democracy and society.

Danielle Allen: Cuz - A Memoir on Mass Incarceration

October 23, 2017 19:26 - 1 hour - 168 MB

A deeply personal memoir that critiques the American prison system, Danielle Allen’s Cuz: The Life and Times of Michael A.tells a coming-of-age story born of the tragedy of mass incarceration. Her fifteen-year old cousin Michael was arrested and tried as an adult for attempted carjacking. Dropped into the Los Angeles prison system as a teenager, he served eleven years before returning to South Central—a region racked by gang warfare—and eventually lost his life to violence just three years l...

Lessons from Watergate for the Trump Era

October 23, 2017 18:11 - 1 hour - 29.7 MB

The Watergate scandal revealed a trail of crimes and cover-ups that ultimately changed the course of American politics. Forty-three years after President Nixon’s resignation, many have drawn parallels between the Watergate era and our own. What lessons can we learn that apply to today? The Brennan Center is bringing together some of the key figures from the Watergate drama. John Dean served as White House Counsel. His riveting testimony helped bring down the president. Elizabeth Holtzman,...

Latino Leadership in the Age of Trump

October 09, 2017 19:59 - 1 hour - 89.1 MB

President Trump has incited open racism, xenophobia, and hostility to Latinos and immigrants. From his attacks on Judge Curiel during his campaign to his claims that 3-5 million noncitizens voted to his pardon of Sheriff Joe Arpaio, to his recent vow to end DACA, there has never been any question that this is an era where Latinos face acute threats in many different arenas. The attacks seem to keep coming, and the Trump administration appears undeterred by Latinos’ growing percentage of the ...

Daniel Franklin: Technology, Democracy and the World of Tomorrow

October 09, 2017 19:58 - 40 minutes - 92.7 MB

Technology moves like lightning—so how will innovation affect our democracy and economy? Will it eliminate privacy? What tools will the military and police have, and who will control them? What are the big ideas, fantastic inventions and potentially sinister trends that will shape our future? Are we prepared for the opportunities, as well as the dangers, that await?

The Line - Electoral College

December 07, 2016 22:34 - 26 minutes - 49.9 MB

Brennan Center contributor, Victoria Bassetti's podcast series, "The Line," examines the Electoral College.

The Line - Extra: First Time Voting

November 21, 2016 18:46 - 5 minutes - 5.43 MB

An extra session of Brennan Center contributor, Victoria Bassetti's podcast series, "The Line," examining first time voters. 

The Line - Extra: Tammany Hall

November 21, 2016 18:28 - 13 minutes - 12.3 MB

An extra session of Brennan Center contributor, Victoria Bassetti's podcast series, "The Line," discussing Tammany Hall. 

The Line - Episode 3: Voter ID

November 04, 2016 21:16 - 24 minutes - 45.5 MB

Part 3 of Brennan Center Contributor Victoria Bassetti's new three-part podcast series, “The Line,” examining voter ID laws and the myth of voter fraud with the Brennan Center's Director of Democracy, Wendy Weiser. 

The Line - Episode 2: Voter Turnout

November 02, 2016 19:50 - 20 minutes - 39.7 MB

Part 2 of Brennan Center Contributor Victoria Bassetti's new three-part podcast series, “The Line,” examining the problem of low voter turnout today and historically with Brennan Center president Michael Waldman.

The Line — Episode 1: Voter Fraud

October 27, 2016 18:59 - 29 minutes - 55.9 MB

Part 1 of Brennan Center Contributor Victoria Bassetti's new three-part podcast series, “The Line,” examining the false claims of election rigging, how to fix low voter turnout in America, and the continued fight over voter identification laws.