The Briefing with Michael Waldman

This week, Michael is joined by Maya Wiley, president and CEO of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, for a wide-ranging conversation on the power of coalition building in a moment of deep challenge.  Drawing on her experience as a lifelong activist and the daughter of influential organizers, Wiley offers perspective and stresses urgency. At a time marked by rising discriminatory r...

As the nation approaches its 250th birthday, the Supreme Court has ended its term with a slew of rulings that further undermine our constitutional system of checks and balances and allow more money to flood our political system. What do the Court’s most recent rulings mean for executive power? Where does Congress fit in? Can any campaign finance regulation ever be legal? Is birthright citizenship...

In this week’s episode, Jesse Wegman joins Michael Waldman to discuss his new book, The Lost Founder: James Wilson and the Forgotten Fight for a People's Constitution , the first major biography of James Wilson. Wilson was a coauthor of the Constitution (his words: “We the People”). He signed both the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, was one of the first Supreme Court justices...

Last week, the Federal Bureau of Investigation raided the Ohio Organizing Collaborative, the state’s leading voter registration organization. This is part of the latest and most aggressive escalation in the DOJ's ongoing investigation over alleged voter fraud. This show of force raises serious questions about voting rights, election administration, and public trust in the integrity of election...

At the beginning of his second administration, Trump said about accusations of corruption and conflicts of interest: “I found out that nobody cared, and I’m allowed to.” According to a new Brennan Center poll , that is emphatically false. Americans care deeply. And they are furious. Voters see corruption as a deep-seated issue embedded in the structure of our government. They are tired of lawmaker...

This month, the Supreme Court will likely finish its work for the year. Already this term, it has aggressively and controversially asserted its authority — most recently gutting the Voting Rights Act in Louisiana v. Callais . Soon, the Court is expected to rule on cases that could dramatically alter the constitutional order. Some will tell us whether the Court will stand up to Trump’s extraordinar...

Today, there is a great deal of ferment on the right. The primary ideas and policies are very different from those that previously dominated conservative politics. They are obscure and provocative and often run counter to the traditional U.S. embrace of liberalism and constitutional democracy. And they are increasingly influential in Washington and elsewhere. Listen as Laura Field, author of Furio...

The Supreme Court ruling in Louisiana v. Callais has set off a redistricting race to the bottom. States, particularly in the South, are scrambling to redraw their maps to undercut Black representation — all in the name of partisanship. It marks the end of a project, since the passage of the Voting Rights Act, to restrict the right to vote. And the frenzy that has ensued represents the worst of par...

As a host of the Strict Scrutiny podcast, on MSNOW, in her classes at NYU School of Law, and in op-eds, Melissa Murray is known for her accessible explanations of constitutional law. In her new book, The U.S. Constitution: A Comprehensive and Annotated Guide for the Modern Reader , Murray brings her signature insights to bear on the document at the heart of U.S. law and legal culture.   Watch as M...

In the wake of the Louisiana v. Callais ruling, calls for Supreme Court reform have grown louder. What would a reform agenda look like? And how would it strengthen the Court as an institution? The Brennan Center recently published the second installment in its series on Solutions for a Stronger Democracy: “ Six Solutions to Fix the Supreme Court .” Listen as experts discuss the Court’s major issue...

This week, the Supreme Court struck down the remaining enforcement tool of the Voting Rights Act — the law often called the crown jewel of the civil rights movement. In this emergency episode, Brennan Center experts analyze the ruling and assess what it will mean for voters in 2026 and beyond. They also discuss what Congress should do — right now — to preserve the equal right to vote. Recorded on...

As the midterm elections draw near, the questions of how voters get their information and who they are listening to are top of mind. Polling shows that more than half of Americans get at least some of their news from social media — and that number is even larger for younger voters. V Spehar is an expert on political discourse online and a content creator with over 4 million followers. They are kno...

In 2024 and 2025, elections were safe and secure largely due to the efforts of election officials. Yet those who run our elections face ongoing threats of violence and political interference as their jobs have been thrust into the spotlight. The Brennan Center recently released its sixth annual survey of election officials , which reveals that they need our support heading into Election Day. Liste...

Amid unprecedented threats to our system of checks and balances – driven by an overpowerful executive and an acquiescent Congress – a group of conservative lawyers and jurists is stepping forward to defend the Constitution and the principles of liberal democracy.   Listen as Gregg Nunziata, Executive Director of the Society for the Rule of Law, assesses the effectiveness of the legal field in resp...

Molly Jong-Fast is a journalist, political commentator, and contributing writer at The New York Times . She has appeared numerous times as an analyst on MSNBC and has contributed to national publications including The Atlantic and Vanity Fair . She hosts iHeartMedia’s Fast Politics podcast and is the author of How to Lose Your Mother . Listen as Jong-Fast discusses the war with Iran, upheaval at t...

Over recent years, we’ve seen a rapid retreat from diversity, equity, and inclusion programs in corporations, universities, law firms, and other institutions. What started with the Supreme Court’s decision to strike down affirmative action in higher education has since been pushed by top government officials. For those who care about equality, what should come next? In their new book, How Equality...

Over the past few years, crime has plummeted across the country, opening up new opportunities for progress inside prisons. Many corrections systems have adopted new approaches and policies that are making prisons less violent and more stable. Overwhelmingly, these practical, often inexpensive fixes have led to extraordinary results. In a new report, Prison Reform in the United States , the Brennan...

When crafting the Constitution, the framers believed that Congress would be the most powerful branch of government. Today, its failure to function is the biggest story in American politics. Its retreat from relevance has created a vacuum filled by executive abuse and Supreme Court overreach. Maya Kornberg, senior research fellow and manager at the Brennan Center, has published a new book explainin...

This week, President Donald Trump declared that the SAVE Act should be congressional Republicans’ “No. 1 priority.” He even said that he would not sign another bill until it is passed. The SAVE Act would be the most restrictive voting law in history. How bad is it? And what can we do to stop it? Meanwhile, the recent feud between Anthropic and the Department of Defense has raised alarms about the...

The war in the Middle East launched by President Trump continues to unfold. Underneath the headlines and the chaos, something else is going on. Recent reporting has exposed signs that election deniers inside and outside the White House may be trying to exploit this moment to claim national security as a rationale to undermine U.S. elections. It’s alarming, and it's flatly illegal. It’s an esca...

From Washington to Lincoln to FDR to the present day, presidents have long been drivers of American progress. Yet the presidency has also been prone to immense abuse. Today, we are experiencing an executive power grab at a scale never seen before. Is this merely a continuation of trends or something entirely new? How should we understand this moment in American history? And what do we need to do t...

Rep. Joe Morelle (D-NY), ranking member of the Committee on House Administration, is leading efforts in the House to craft the Democrats’ agenda to fight corruption and strengthen democracy. Recently, he has spoken emphatically about the dangers of the SAVE Act, which would effectively bar millions of eligible Americans from voting. Watch or listen as Morelle discusses what it will take to defend...

Recently, we’ve seen an escalation in efforts to meddle with elections, from the dangerous SAVE Act, which is gaining momentum in Congress, to President Trump himself calling for “nationalizing” the counting of ballots.   Less known is how the administration is leveraging the Department of Justice (DOJ) to subvert the vote. Over the last several months, the DOJ has been demanding access to voter r...

Our government can often be defined by inefficiency and gridlock. We see big promises but inadequate action on many issues Americans care about, from health care to the environment. Author and scholar Marc Dunkelman thinks he can explain why. In his new book Why Nothing Works , he makes the case that progressive efforts to constrain authority and make processes more democratic have, in fact, left...

Following the second killing of an American by ICE agents in Minneapolis, Attorney General Pam Bondi sent a letter to Minnesota Governor Tim Walz linking the violence in Minnesota to a demand that the state give the Justice Department complete access to the state’s voter rolls, among other requests. It’s an outrageous and unambiguous abuse of power. It’s also part of a broader strategy to undermin...