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 Committee Chairman Michael Steele, in conversation with the Brennan Center’s Ted Johnson, will reflect on King’s life and examine the expansion of his activism from 1967 to 1968. Who was King at the end of his life? What is his lasting impact on issues of poverty, war, and democracy? And what must we do to bring about the revolution of values he envisioned?

Donna Edwards, former Representative, U.S. Congress

Michael Steele, former Chairman, Republican National Committee

Theodore Johnson, Senior Fellow, Brennan Center for Justice

This program is produced by the Brennan Center for Justice in partnership with the NYU John Brademas Center and NYU Washington, DC.

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 American Civil Liberties Union, Robin Steinberg, founder of the Bronx Defenders, and Judith A. Greene, a former Soros Senior Justice Fellow and criminal justice expert, both contributors to Decarcerating America, The New Press volume, edited by Ernest Drucker.

Nicole Zayas Fortier, Advocacy & Policy Counsel at the Campaign for Smart Justice, American Civil Liberties Union

Judith A. Greene, Former Soros Senior Justice fellow; Contributor, Decarcerating America: From Mass Punishment to Public Health

Robin Steinberg, Founder, Bronx Defenders; Contributor, Decarcerating America: From Mass Punishment to Public Health

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 or release defendants before trial. And some assign children to schools and families to shelters. All these automated computing tools today play a larger role than ever before.

Fans praise these as better than fallible human judgment. But do they live up to their promise? How to judge claims by the companies who stand to make money off them? Can we really achieve transparency and efficiency? Do big data tools, as some charge, simply reinforce class and race prejudice under the guise of objectivity? Can these systems be harnessed for good? And how can affected communities gain control over how data is used and packaged?

Join us for a discussion on the use of big data in social welfare, policing, and criminal justice, and its impact on marginalized communities.

Tamika Lewis, Organizer, Our Data Bodies

Rachel Levinson-Waldman, Senior Counsel, Brennan Center’s Liberty and National Security Program

Cornell William Brooks, Senior Fellow, Brennan Center for Justice

Andrew Guthrie Ferguson, Professor of Law, University of the District of Columbia's David A. Clarke School of Law; author, The Rise of Big Data Policing: Surveillance, Race, and the Future of Law Enforcement

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 at Harvard University and author of the new book The People vs. Democracy: Why Our Freedom Is in Danger and How to Save It,discusses the future of democracy with Wendy Weiser, Director of the Democracy Program and the Brennan Center for Justice.

Yascha Mounk, Lecturer on Political Theory, Harvard University; author, The People vs. Democracy: Why Our Freedom Is in Danger and How to Save It

Wendy Weiser, Director, Democracy Program, the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law

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 system, delegitimizing opponents and leading a conservative renaissance on the Court.

Join Richard Hasen — professor at University of California, Irvine and one of The National Law Journal's 100 most influential lawyers in America — as he delves into the complicated legacy of Justice Antonin Scalia. He will be interviewed by leading legal journalist Joan Biskupic, author of the definitive biography of Justice Scalia.

Rick Hasen, professor, University of California, Irvine School of Law; author, The Justice of Contradictions: Antonin Scalia and the Politics of Disruption

Joan Biskupic, CNN legal analyst & Supreme Court biographer; author of American Original: The Life and Constitution of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia and forthcoming biography of Chief Justice Roberts

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 Senior Editor at The Atlantic, the author of nine books, and served as a special assistant and speechwriter for President George W. Bush. In this special conversation with NYU School of Law Dean Trevor Morrison, a leading expert on the presidency and the Constitution, Frum will discuss what happens next under Trump, as well as how to prevent a push toward illiberalism.

David Frum, Senior Editor, The Atlantic; author, Trumpocracy: The Corruption of the American Republic

Trevor Morrison, Dean and Eric M. and Laurie B. Roth Professor of Law, New York University School of Law

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 gaps that exist in our system of federal ethics regulation, considers the special challenges that accompany any effort to regulate the president’s conduct in office, and debates the most promising ideas for reform.

Kimberly Atkins, Chief Washington Reporter/Columnist, Boston Herald

Kathleen Clark, Professor of Law, Washington University School of Law

Walter Shaub, Senior Director, Ethics, Campaign Legal Center and former Director of the Office of Government Ethics

Daniel I. Weiner, Senior Counsel, Democracy Program, Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law

This program is produced by The Brennan Center for Justice in partnership with the NYU John Brademas Center and NYU Washington, DC.

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. Join Lauren-Brooke Eisen―senior counsel at the Brennan Center for Justice―for the launch of her new book, Inside Private Prisons, as she reflects on her unprecedented access to our nation’s private penal system and what she’s uncovered about these corporate prisons. She will be joined by Glenn Martin of JustLeadershipUSA and CNN's Laura Jarrett will moderate the discussion.

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 Excellence—joins the Brennan Center and Irin Carmon, co-author of Notorious R.B.G., to reflect on her unexpected time in the spotlight and the fascinating, highly controversial world of the 2016 Trump Campaign.

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, and what should be the agendas going forward to check presidential power and curb oval office misconduct.

We mark the one year anniversary of Trump’s electoral victory with Emily Bazelon, staff writer for New York Times Magazine, Preet Bharara, former US Attorney, Southern District of NY, John Podhoretz, editor of Commentary, and ABC's George Stephanopoulos for a public discussion of how to fortify our democracy in the Trump years and beyond.

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. Join Lauren-Brooke Eisen―senior counsel at the Brennan Center for Justice―for the launch of her new book, Inside Private Prisons, as she reflects on her unprecedented access to our nation’s private penal system and what she’s uncovered about these corporate prisons. She will be joined by criminal justice journalist Eli Hager from The Marshall Project, investigate journalist Eric Schlosser (Fast Food Nation), Khalil Cumberbatch from The Fortune Society, and NPR correspondent Ailsa Chang.

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-Wolf, author of Periods Gone Public, and Newsweek senior reporter Abigail Jones to learn more about how this campaign emerged, why the issue resonates across party lines, and what is next for “menstrual equity.”

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.

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 country’s population.

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?

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

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

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

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. 

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.

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.

Control of the country is up for grabs  — and the integrity of our democracy is at stake this November. Nearly two dozen states passed new voting restrictions. Gerrymandering keeps partisans in power. And the Supreme Court gutted campaign finance laws and protections against voting discrimination. In The Great Suppression: Voting Rights, Corporate Cash, and the Conservative Assault on American Democracy, MSNBC reporter Zachary Roth reveals how this movement prevents progress and quiets the political voices of people of color, students, and disadvantaged communities. 

More info: http://www.brennancenter.org/event/great-suppression-book-talk-zachary-roth

A preview 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.

The Brennan Center held the first ever national conference on automatic voter registration. Part 2 includes the keynote speech delivered by former Attorney General Eric Holder. 

The Brennan Center held the first ever national conference on automatic voter registration. Part one includes a keynote speech from California Secretary of State Alex Padilla. 

Despite the success of last year’s surveillance reform legislation (the “USA FREEDOM Act”), the U.S. retains the ability to collect millions of Americans’ phone calls and e-mails without a warrant—and without any oversight by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court—under Executive Order 12333 (EO 12333). The order underlies the intelligence community’s most expansive surveillance authorities. It generally governs the interception of electronic communications overseas, but as a Brennan Center report shows, its broad scope has significant implications for Americans.

Just Security, the Brennan Center for Justice, and a panel of leading experts discussed a range of issues about the questions surrounding EO 12333 surveillance. 

Panelists included Neema Singh Guliani Legislative Counsel, American Civil Liberties Union; Deborah Pearlman, Associate Professor, Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law; Rebecca Richards, Director, Office of Civil Liberties and Privacy, National Security Agency; Ames Toh, Legal Advisor to the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression; former Counsel, Brennan Center for Justice; and Harlan Yu, Principal, Upturn.

Listen to an engaging discussion with Samuel Issacharoff, one of the pioneers in the law of the political process and the author of Fragile Democracies: Contested Power in the Era of Constitutional Courts. 

In Fragile Democracies: Contested Power in the Era of Constitutional Courts, renowned professor and scholar Samuel Issacharoff examines the often-overlooked role of constitutional courts in transitional democracies around the world in the past 25 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall.

In response to the growing influence of money in politics in recent elections, the Brennan Center hosted a workshop to discuss Professor Rick Hasen’s most recent contribution to the debate – his new book Plutocrats United: Campaign Money, the Supreme Court, and the Distortion of American Elections. He was joined by several other leading academics in the field.

The U.S. Supreme Court recently heard oral arguments in a case that could radically change how legislative lines are drawn in America. In Evenwel v. Abbott, the Supreme Court might order states to draw boundaries using voters instead of total people. This change in the rule could have a significant impact on the future representation of America’s fast-growing urban and suburban communities, and of Latinos in particular.

In this candid discussion, experts and practitioners explore the implications of the Evenwel case, the tremendous impact it could have on the Latino community, and how other recent Supreme Court cases could fundamentally reshape the redistricting landscape.

What if most of what we think we know about reading the text of the First Amendment is just wrong? For years, the Supreme Court has treated the First Amendment like a laundry list of isolated words, stopping every once in a while to pull a couple of words out of the full text and claiming to be able to use the artificially isolated words as an infallible guide to what the First Amendment really means. In Madison's Music, Burt Neuborne argues that the Supreme Court has gotten the actual text wrong. If judges would only look at the First Amendment’s full text—all forty-five words—they would discover Madison’s music, a First Amendment that is democracy’s best friend.

America’s democracy is floundering, Congress is hopelessly gridlocked, and millions remain without gainful employment. Despite all this, longtime political strategist and polling expert Douglas E. Schoen remains optimistic. 

Democracy’s Problems And Prospects represents the best of Dr. Schoen’s distinguished career, which he has dedicated to ensuring that democratic societies reflect the consent and the will of their electorates, and that America defends its interests as well as its values.

Darryl Pinckney’s new book, Blackballed: The Black Vote and US Democracy, is a meditation on the intersection between civil rights and the history of black participation in U.S. electoral politics. Fifty years after the first passage of the Voting Rights Act, Pinckney investigates the struggle for black voting rights from Reconstruction through the civil rights movement to Barack Obama’s two presidential campaigns. Mr. Pinckney is joined by Wade Henderson, President and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, and Brennan's Washington D.C. office director, Nicole Austin-Hillery.

In the last decade, national security issues have increasingly faded from the political agenda, due in part to the growth of government secrecy. In his new book, Lords of Secrecy: The National Security Elite and America's Stealth Warfare, journalist and lawyer Scott Horton explains how secrecy has fundamentally changed the way America functions. Never before have the American people had so little information concerning the wars waged in their name, nor has Congress exercised so little oversight over the war effort. Horton reminds us that publicly addressing the country’s national security concerns is the right and responsibility of a free citizenry, and ultimately, the heart of any democracy.