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Op-EdDecember 6, 2022 6:12 pm | By Svante Myrick
Celebrating Progressive District Attorneys and Their Contributions to Public Safety Reform
The progressive movement is not always the best at celebrating our wins, or repeating winning tactics. Compared to the Far Right, who can’t seem to get enough of hammering home the same topics over and over ad nauseum, we sometimes…
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News and AnalysisDecember 6, 2022 2:17 pm | By Elliot Mincberg
Will the Right-Wing Majority Turn the First Amendment into a License to Discriminate?
On December 5, the Supreme Court heard argument in 303 Creative LLC v Elenis. Brought by the far right Alliance Defending Freddom (ADF), the case seeks to create an exemption from a state public accommodations law for a web designer…
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News and AnalysisDecember 5, 2022 3:43 pm | By Paul Gordon
The Supreme Court Considers a Dangerous Far-Right Power Grab That Threatens Us All
Can far-right state legislatures rig presidential and congressional elections in violation of their own state constitutions? The conservative justices on the Supreme Court may let them do just that in a case being heard December 7. It’s called Moore v.…
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Op-EdDecember 1, 2022 6:16 pm | By Ben Jealous
Stay Alert: Trump, Ye, and Nick Fuentes?
By now you may have heard who President Trump had as dinner guests at Mar-a-Lago over Thanksgiving week. Among them was the 24-year-old Nick Fuentes, who has spent several years building an online following among by promoting a poisonous mix…
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News and AnalysisNovember 28, 2022 9:38 am | By Elliot Mincberg
Decision by Biden Judge Limits Involuntary Confinement of Mentally Ill
Judge Toby Heytens, nominated by President Biden to the Fourth Circuit, wrote an important 2-1 decision that limited the government’s ability to confine indefinitely a mentally ill person being released from prison. Trump judge Julius Richardson dissented in the November…
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Op-EdNovember 23, 2022 10:52 am | By Ben Jealous
How We Can Influence the Courts that Influence Our Lives
As I write this, the final few races are being called in the midterm elections that were held weeks ago. It’s clear that that the House will be closely divided, with Republicans holding a very small majority. History shows that…
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Op-EdNovember 10, 2022 5:46 pm | By Ben Jealous
Seven Top Takeaways from this Year’s Midterms
As the dust settles on the midterm elections and the warnings of a “Red Wave” evaporate, it’s time to take a deep breath and take stock of what we’ve learned. There are many takeaways from the elections this year –…
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News and AnalysisNovember 10, 2022 5:00 pm | By Rev. Dr. Susan K. Smith
Understanding the History of Policing in America and Police Violence Against Black Communities
People For the American Way’s recent report, All Safe: Transforming Public Safety, provides concrete policy proposals for the transformation and implementation of public safety programs specifically at the local level. Eliminating police violence and improving public safety are vital to…
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Op-EdNovember 4, 2022 1:11 pm | By Svante Myrick
3 Reasons Why Every Election is the Most Important Election
This coming election is the most important of our lives — just like the last one and the one before that. We say it a lot, and it’s always true, especially now when we’re dangerously close to losing our democracy…
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Op-EdNovember 3, 2022 11:27 am | By Ben Jealous
Tell the Supreme Court: We Still Need Affirmative Action
One of the great joys of my life is teaching. I’m fortunate to teach classes on social justice at the University of Pennsylvania, one of the most respected schools in the country. Penn has a longstanding commitment to affirmative action,…
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Op-EdOctober 26, 2022 10:29 am | By Svante Myrick
Why the Far Right Tries So Hard to Disenfranchise Black Voters
Of all the awful acts perpetrated by the Far Right, attempting to prevent certain groups from voting might be the most insidious. Voting is power, and voter suppression is a blatant effort to remove that power from people who would…
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News and AnalysisOctober 25, 2022 12:59 pm | By Elliot Mincberg
Corporation’s Attempt to Cut Back Whistleblower Protections Blocked by Biden Judge
Judge Gabriel Sanchez, nominated by President Biden to the Ninth Circuit, reversed a lower court that had accepted a corporation’s arguments that would have significantly limited whistleblower protections for workers under California law. Aaron Killgore, who worked for SpecPro Professional…
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Op-EdOctober 20, 2022 10:41 am | By Ben Jealous
Georgia Is Ground Zero for Democracy
Like so many of us right now, I’ve got Georgia on my mind. As I write this, I’ve just gotten back from meeting with Black ministers who are working nonstop to get out the vote across the state. And with…
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People For in ActionOctober 20, 2022 10:33 am | By Megan Simons
Join us: Rally for Affirmative Action on October 31st
On Monday, October 31, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in two cases concerning the consideration of race as one factor in college admissions at Harvard College and the University of North Carolina. We're rallying at the Supreme Court…
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Op-EdOctober 14, 2022 3:09 pm | By Ben Jealous
Modeling the Spirit of Democracy
Some things are unthinkable—until they happen. For Jamie Raskin, a congressman and father, the first unthinkable thing was the loss of his beloved son Tommy to suicide on New Year’s Eve 2020. As a father myself, my heart breaks when…
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News and AnalysisOctober 13, 2022 11:05 am | By Elliot Mincberg
Important Gun Safety Law Reinstated by Biden Judge
Judge Eunice Lee, nominated by President Biden to the Second Circuit, put back into place a New York gun safety law that was stopped by a highly criticized lower court through a temporary injunction. The law sets important limits on…
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Op-EdOctober 7, 2022 3:33 pm | By Svante Myrick
4 Lessons the Far Right Has Failed to Learn from Decades of Popular Culture
From Star Trek addressing racism in 1967, to Twitter exposing the outrage of a Black "Little Mermaid” in 2022, science fiction, fantasy, and popular culture have always held a mirror up to society’s attitudes—for better or for worse. Some people…
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Op-EdOctober 7, 2022 8:00 am | By Ben Jealous
Let’s Unite to Defend the Black Vote
Right before our last national elections in 2020, thousands of Black voters in Detroit got a call from someone posing as a woman named “Tamika Taylor.” She warned them that if they voted, the government would collect their personal information…
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Op-EdSeptember 29, 2022 12:54 pm | By Ben Jealous
Black Women Holding Trump Accountable
Former President Donald Trump has spent a lifetime getting away with things. Rich and willing to use an army of lawyers to defend his abuses and bully people he has wronged into submission, Trump is a prime example of the…
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News and AnalysisSeptember 29, 2022 10:39 am | By Paul Gordon
Alabama’s Orwellian Attack on the Voting Rights Act at the Supreme Court
How’s this for Orwellian logic: Taking the steps necessary to eliminate racial discrimination under the Voting Rights Act is itself unconstitutional racial discrimination. That’s basically the argument that Alabama Republicans are using to defend their congressional gerrymandering in a Supreme…