You’re read­ing The Brief­ing, Michael Wald­­­­­man’s weekly news­­­­­­­­­let­ter. Click here to receive it in your inbox. The Brennan Center is part of a broad coalition tracking election-related ...

Yet at year’s end, there’s reason for hope. The laws of political gravity have not been repealed. Abuse has been met with ...

The First Step Act is intended to do two things: cut unnecessarily long federal sentences and improve conditions in federal prison. More than a year after it was enacted in 2018, key parts of the law ...

President Trump’s efforts to ramp up deportations have brought the immigration system into sharper focus. His administration is pushing for mass deportations, pressuring states to assist in ...

The National Guard plays a crucial role in the United States, both in its capacity as a reserve component of the armed forces and as a versatile asset that state governors can call on in times of ...

Special interest money in state supreme court elections threatens the integrity of the judiciary. We’re tracking who pays for judicial races and analyzing how special-interest pressure and conflicts ...

State lawmakers passed bills that made partisan changes to judicial selection, manipulated venue rules, and politicized judicial ethics. Last November, days after Ohio voters enshrined the right to ...

Prosecutors play a vital role in the criminal justice system, determining not just which cases to pursue but also what charges to file and penalties to seek. Over the past decade, some prosecutors ...

Enacted in 1792, the Insurrection Act grants the president the authority to deploy the U.S. military domestically and use it against Americans under certain conditions. While there are rare ...

Editor’s note: A more recent snapshot of state-level voting laws — both expansive and restrictive — can be found here. Across the country, the effort to restrict the vote continues, with a wave of ...

The political prosecution of a presidential enemy has left the government with a seemingly unwinnable case — and a justice system tainted by politics. The power of the prosecutor is tremendous, ...

In November 2018, Missouri voters passed a ballot initiative designed to bring independence and racial and partisan fairness to a redistricting process often waylaid by incumbent protection, political ...