 | |
| Established | 1995; 31 years ago (1995) |
|---|---|
| Location | |
President | Michael Waldman |
| Kimberley D. Harris (co-chair) Christine A. Varney (co-chair) | |
| Revenue | $57.9 million (2024)[1] |
| Expenses | $50.6 million (2024)[1] |
| Endowment | $313 million (2024)[1] |
| Website | www |
TheBrennan Center for Justice is an Americanliberal[2][3][4] nonprofit law and public policy institute. The organization is named after Supreme Court justiceWilliam J. Brennan Jr. The Brennan Center advocates for public policy positions including raising theminimum wage, opposingvoter ID laws, and calling forpublic funding of elections.[5][6] Its operations are centered at theNew York University School of Law. The organization opposed the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling inCitizens United v. FEC, which held that theFirst Amendment prohibits the government from restricting independent political expenditures by nonprofit organizations.[7][8]
The stated mission of the Brennan Center is to "work to hold our political institutions and laws accountable to the twin American ideals of democracy and equal justice for all".[9] Its president isMichael Waldman, formerspeechwriter for PresidentBill Clinton.
The Brennan Center for Justice was founded in 1995 by the family and formerlaw clerks of Supreme Court justiceWilliam J. Brennan Jr., whomThe Washington Post called "the progressive voice of the modern court".[10] Justice Brennan's idea of aliving constitution figures largely into the center's work.[11] The Brennan Center started with an initial grant by theCarnegie Corporation of New York of $25,000 in 1996. The Carnegie Corporation in years since has donated over $3,650,000.[12] During the selection process of what school to center operations from, the Brennan Center selected New York University School of Law (NYU Law) out of a choice of three schools, with the other two beingGeorgetown University andHarvard University.[12]
The Brennan Center is partthink tank, part public interestlaw firm, and partadvocacy group. The organization is involved in issues such as opposingvoter ID laws that it believes unduly restrict voter registration, and other barriers to registration and voting, and advocates forredistricting reform andcampaign finance reform.[13][14]
The Brennan Center's work is divided into three programs—Democracy, Justice, and Liberty & National Security.[15] Past programs focused on criminal justice, poverty, and economic justice.[16] The organization has focus on issues both at the national level in the United States but also at the state and local levels of government.[12]
The Brennan Center opposesmass incarceration and produces research on causes of violentcrime in the United States.[17][18][19] The Brennan Center has represented severaldetainees at theGuantanamo Bay detention camp, and alsoU.S. citizens orlegal residents held asunlawful enemy combatants.[20] Attorneys from the Brennan Center challenged aU.S. president's authority to declare a prisoner to be an unlawful enemy combatant in thewar on terror. They have also challenged theU.S. Congress's power to denyhabeas corpus to such prisoners.[21]
The Brennan Center assisted in drafting and enacting theBipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 (BCRA). The law bannedsoft money contributions topolitical campaigns. The organization helped SenatorDick Durbin write theFair Elections Now Act.[22]
The Brennan Center advocated for the passage in 2010 of New York's law ending prison-basedgerrymandering, and was part of a coalition of organizations that sought to defend that law from a court challenge.[23] The Brennan Center advocates for the restoration of felonvoting rights.[24]
The Brennan Center representedplaintiffs Margarita López Torres, other unsuccessful judicial candidates, andCommon Cause, in alawsuit that challenged the way New York statetrial judge candidates gain access to the ballot. They prevailed in theU.S. District Court and in theU.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit. In 2007, attorneys from the Brennan Center arguedN.Y. State Bd. of Elections v. Lopez Torres before theUnited States Supreme Court. In 2008, the court ruled for the state.[25]
In 2015, the Brennan Center submitted anamicus curiae brief with theSupreme Court of Wisconsin, urging the state not to overturnJohn Doe law, which allows the state to conduct criminal investigations in secret.[26][27][28]
The Brennan Center has been tracking states' legislation onvoter ID laws and other barriers to voter registration and voting to determine whether there is undue burden carried by certain communities. Numerous lawsuits have been brought against states in such cases. By August 1, 2016, rulings in five cases: Ohio, Texas, North Carolina, Wisconsin, and North Dakota, overturned certain voter ID and other provisions, requiring states to make alternatives acceptable for the November 2016 election cycle.[29][30][31] The Brennan Center research has also indicated that instances ofvoter fraud by citizens and non-citizens are very rare.[32] In 2021, the Brennan Center represented Ohio citizens groups in their efforts to stopgerrymandering and, after winning judgments in the state Supreme Court did not improve district maps, the Center supported a2024 ballot initiative.[33]
In 2023, the Brennan Center surveyed election administrators, finding many plan on retiring before the 2024 presidential election.[34]
The Brennan Center filed a friend of the court briefing in the U.S. Supreme Court in the case of Moore v. Harper. In oral arguments on December 7, 2022, the Brennan Center urged the United States Supreme Court to allow the North Carolina Supreme Court to strike down the state legislature’s congressional map for violating the North Carolina Constitution.[1][35]
The Brennan Center for Justice is a partner organization ofVoteRiders.[36] In 2024, the Brennan Center, VoteRiders, and other organizations released research on proof of citizenship in the U.S., finding that more than 21 million Americans would not be able to quickly locate a passport, birth certificate, or naturalization papers as proof of citizenship within 24 hours.[37][38][39] The research also concluded that nearly four million American citizens (two percent of U.S. citizens) lack access to any form of proof in citizenship.[40][41][42] Later in 2024, the Center also released a report focused on state-by-state redesigns of election rules in the aftermath of the 2020 election.[43]
In 2025, the Brennan Center filed a lawsuit on behalf of a coalition of voting rights organizations, including theLeague of Women Voters and theNAACP, challenging President Trump'sPreserving and Protecting the Integrity of American Elections executive order, which directs theElection Assistance Commission to require documentary proof of citizenship for the federal voter registration form.[44][45]
As of the Brennan Center's 2021 annual report, the organization has received funding from:[46]
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