On the heels of election 2020, bills that may change voting and the election process have been introduced at the federal level and in numerous states including Georgia. In this panel, experts discuss the most significant legislation being considered, the constitutional issues they present, and what the Supreme Court might say. Theodore Johnson of the Brennan Center for Justice; Rich Lowry of the National Review; Ilya Shapiro of the Cato Institute; and Kim Wehle, author of What You Need to Know About Voting—And Why, join Jeffrey Rosen, president and CEO of the National Constitution Center.
The National Constitution Center and the SNF Agora Institute at Johns Hopkins University presented this new panel in their ongoing partnership of conversations about how to restore the guardrails of American democracy. This program was also made possible with support from the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF).
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This episode was produced by Jackie McDermott, Tanaya Tauber, Lana Ulrich, and John Guerra. It was engineered by David Stotz.
TRANSCRIPT:
This transcript may not be in its final form, accuracy may vary, and it may be updated or revised in the future.
PARTICIPANTS
Theodore Johnson is a senior fellow and director of the Fellows Program at the Brennan Center for Justice. His work explores the role that race plays in electoral politics, issue framing, and disparities in policy outcomes. Previously, he was a national fellow at New America and a research manager at Deloitte. He is also a retired commander in the U.S. Navy following a two-decade career that included service as a White House fellow, military professor at the U.S. Naval War College, and speechwriter to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Rich Lowry is the editor of National Review. He became editor of National Review in 1997 when selected by its founder, William F. Buckley, Jr., to lead the magazine. He writes for Politico, often appears on such public-affairs programs as Meet the Press and is a regular panelist on the KCRW program Left, Right & Center. He is also the author of four books, including The Case for Nationalism: How It Made Us Powerful, United, and Free.
Ilya Shapiro is a vice president of the Cato Institute, director of the Robert A. Levy Center for Constitutional Studies, and publisher of the Cato Supreme Court Review. Shapiro is the author of several books, including Supreme Disorder: Judicial Nominations and the Politics of America’s Highest Court, and editor of 11 volumes of the Cato Supreme Court Review. Shapiro has testified before Congress and state legislatures and has filed more than 300 amicus curiae “friend of the court” briefs in the Supreme Court.
Kim Wehle is a tenured professor of law at the University of Baltimore School of Law, where she teaches and writes on the Constitution, separation of powers, and more. Wehle is an On-Air and Off-Air Legal Expert, Analyst and Commentator for CBS News as well as a contributor to BBC World News and The Bulwark. She is the author of several books, including, What You Need to Know About Voting—And Why.
Jeffrey Rosen is the president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, a nonpartisan nonprofit organization devoted to educating the public about the U.S. Constitution. Rosen is also professor of law at The George Washington University Law School and a contributing editor of The Atlantic.
Additional Resources
- Theodore Johnson, The New York Times Magazine, "How the Black Vote Became a Monolith"
- Rich Lowry, National Review, "The Voter-Supression Lie"
- Ilya Shapiro, National Review, “Georgia Election-Law Backlash Exposes Outrageous Double Standard”
- Ilya Shapiro, The Washington Examiner, “The Voter Suppression Lie”
- Kim Wehle, The Bulwark, "Biden Moves to Strengthen Voting"
- Georgia House Special Committee on Election Integrity, SB 02 (2021)
- United States Department of Justice, "About Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act"
- 117th Congress, H.R.1 - For the People Act of 2021
- Bush v. Gore (2000)
- Shelby County v. Holder (2013)
- Texas Dept. of Housing and Community Affairs v. Inclusive Communities Project, Inc. (2015)
- SCOTUSBlog, "Brnovich v. Democratic National Committee"
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