- Brennan Center for Justice
The Brennan Center for Justice at
New York University Law School is a progressive, non-partisan public policy and law institute that focuses on issues involvingdemocracy andjustice . The Center’s mission states that it is “dedicated to strengthening democracy and securing justice, through law, scholarship, education and advocacy.”1The organization is currently headed by Michael Waldman, who served as Director of Speechwriting for President
Bill Clinton from 1995-1999.History and mission
The Brennan Center for Justice was founded in 1995 by the family and former law clerks of Supreme Court Justice
William J. Brennan . Justice Brennan’s idea of aliving constitution figures largely into the center’s work. The Brennan Center is involved in issues such asvoting rights , redistricting reform, economic justice, and presidential power in the fight againstterrorism . The organization is partthink tank , part public interest law firm, and part advocacy group.Accomplishments
Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act
The Brennan Center provided research that was central to the drafting and passing of the
Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 ("BCRA"). The law banned "soft money " contributions to political campaigns. Brennan Center attorneys helped to successfully defend the law before theUnited States Supreme Court . The organization was part of a coalition that represented SenatorsJohn McCain ,Russ Feingold ,Olympia Snowe , andJames Jeffords , and RepresentativesChristopher Shays andMartin Meehan in the case ofMcConnell v. FEC .The Center has also provided guidance to the
United States Congress and state legislatures on how to improve America’s election laws.New York State reform
In 2004 the Brennan Center released a report calling the
New York State Legislature the most dysfunctional in the United States. The report received national attention. The organization followed up on the report by representing Lopez Torres in a court case that challenges the way trial judges are selected in New York. Attorneys from the Brennan Center will defend the challenge before the United States Supreme Court in the fall of 2007.Liberty and national security
The Brennan Center currently represents several detainees at the
Guantanamo Bay detention camp , as well as other U.S. citizens and legal residents who have been detained asenemy combatants . Attorneys from the Center are challenging President Bush's authority to declare someone an enemy combatant in the fight againstterrorism . The Center is also challenging Congress’s ability to deny the right ofhabeas corpus to those who have been detained.References
1. [http://www.brennancenter.org/pages/about/ The Brennan Center for Justice Mission Statement]
External links
[http://www.brennancenter.org/pages/about/]
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