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PODCAST

The Briefing with Michael Waldman

Brennan Center for Justice

Every week, Brennan Center President Michael Waldman interviews the leaders, thinkers, and activists who are changing American democracy.

news politics

All Episodes

00:28:54

Why Election Officials Are Alarmed (with Liz Howard)

The Briefing with Michael Waldman ·

2026/04/23

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.Listen as Elizabeth Howard, director of partner engagement in the Brennan Center’s Elections and Government

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01:01:48

The Conservatives Fighting for the Rule of Law (with...

The Briefing with Michael Waldman ·

2026/04/15

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 responding to these challenges and discusses what is needed to confront the illiberal forces eroding our

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00:45:18

Speed Round (with Molly Jong-Fast)

The Briefing with Michael Waldman ·

2026/04/08

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 the Justice Department, and the strengths and weaknesses of legacy and new media in responding to the current

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00:45:41

How Equality Wins (with Kenji Yoshino)

The Briefing with Michael Waldman ·

2026/04/01

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 Wins, Kenji Yoshino and David Glasgow outline a path forward for the equality movement in this time of

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00:32:04

How to Improve America’s Prisons (with L.B. Eisen and...

The Briefing with Michael Waldman ·

2026/03/25

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 Center delves into new programs and outlines how states can replicate their successes. The report features

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00:38:01

Why Is Congress Stuck? (with Maya Kornberg)

The Briefing with Michael Waldman ·

2026/03/18

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 explaining why reform efforts in Congress have failed and offering a path forward. In Stuck: How Money, Media, and

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00:47:25

A Fight for Voting Rights and a Showdown over AI...

The Briefing with Michael Waldman ·

2026/03/12

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 military’s use of AI. What should we be worried about? And what reforms could bring accountability?Listen

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00:32:34

Executive Overreach in a Time of War

The Briefing with Michael Waldman ·

2026/03/05

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 escalation of ongoing efforts to meddle with the vote.Listen as Brennan Center experts break down what is

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00:45:24

Can the Presidency Be Tamed? (with David Frum)

The Briefing with Michael Waldman ·

2026/02/25

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 to restore checks on the office?Listen as David Frum, former speechwriter for President George W. Bush and

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00:38:59

A Moment for Reform in Congress (with Rep. Joe Morelle)

The Briefing with Michael Waldman ·

2026/02/18

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 the right to vote, end political corruption, and renew our democratic values. Speakers:Rep. Joe Morelle,

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00:30:55

How the Justice Department Came to Threaten Elections...

The Briefing with Michael Waldman ·

2026/02/11

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 rolls and suing states that don’t comply — a move that is not only unlawful but raises numerous

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01:03:13

Why Nothing Works (with Marc Dunkelman)

The Briefing with Michael Waldman ·

2026/02/04

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 many parts of our government unresponsive and unable to function, creating a cycle of distrust and

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00:24:37

Pam Bondi's “Ransom” Letter (with Wendy Weiser)

The Briefing with Michael Waldman ·

2026/01/28

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 undermine elections heading into the 2026 midterms. Listen as experts break down what has happened and discuss

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00:43:01

How We Can Fix America’s Corruption Problem (with...

The Briefing with Michael Waldman ·

2026/01/21

Americans are unhappy with their government. They’ve connected the dots: Corruption and self-dealing at the highest levels have led to voters feeling left out, left behind, and disconnected from government. What could solve the problemThe Brennan Center has begun publishing a series of policy solutions, starting with “Nine Solutions for Corruption in America.” It’s a new publication that addresses money in politics, government ethics, and more.This is an episode not about restoring what was, but

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00:27:21

An Emergency in Venezuela

The Briefing with Michael Waldman ·

2026/01/06

Over the weekend, the Trump administration launched a military operation in Venezuela to capture President Nicolas Maduro. Such an aggressive use of war powers without congressional consent is alarming and in many ways unprecedented. Trump is declaring victory. Critics are decrying a breach of checks and balances. What are the implications of this unilateral abuse of military force, and what could happen next?Listen as leading experts from the Brennan Center discuss what happened, break down the

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01:05:59

2025: Year in Review

The Briefing with Michael Waldman ·

2025/12/23

This year we saw extraordinary threats to American democracy: an executive power grab, attacks on the freedom to vote, and more. Yet we also saw a growing response, from court rulings to citizen alarm. What happened? And what can we expect next?Speakers:Sean Morales-Doyle, Director, Voting Rights and Elections ProgramWendy Weiser, Vice President, Democracy ProgramDaniel I. Weiner, Director, Elections and Government ProgramKatherine Yon Ebright, Counsel, Liberty and National Security

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01:13:17

Bush v. Gore and the State of U.S. Elections

The Briefing with Michael Waldman ·

2025/12/16

For a generation, presidential races were blowouts. Every winner between 1980 and 1996 won by at least 37 Electoral College votes. These landslides relegated conspiracy theories about contested elections to the political fringes.Then came 2000. The last polls showed a dead heat. On election night, the networks called it for Al Gore, then retracted their calls, then called it for George W. Bush, and retracted again.Ultimately, five Supreme Court justices, all appointed by Republican presidents, put

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00:37:25

How Congress Must Respond to Trump's Boat Strikes...

The Briefing with Michael Waldman ·

2025/12/05

Over the past several months, the Trump administration has undertaken a congressionally unauthorized military campaign against supposed “narco-terrorists” in international waters. One of the administration’s attacks in particular has roiled Washington — according to recent reporting, military officials ordered a follow-up strike that killed survivors of an attack on an alleged drug boat. Since the revelation, Trump officials have scrambled to explain the legal justification and who was ultimately

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00:51:05

Does the Constitution Still Work?

The Briefing with Michael Waldman ·

2025/12/02

U.S. politics today can be defined by extreme dysfunction and polarization. But the founders accounted for a fractured society, and designed our government specifically to handle moments like these. Listen as conservative scholar Yuval Levin discusses his book, American Covenant: How the Constitution Unified Our Nation―and Could Again, which argues that the U.S. constitutional system is designed to compel us to find common ground and act together — and that the key is for Congress to play its

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01:00:44

Troops in American Cities

The Briefing with Michael Waldman ·

2025/11/17

Our military is trained to defeat enemies, not to police American citizens. President Trump’s troop deployments in Los Angeles, DC, Chicago, Portland, Memphis, and potentially other cities pose real threats to civil liberties and the rule of law. During the Constitutional Convention, James Madison warned, “The means of defense against foreign danger have been always the instruments of tyranny at home.” Experts discuss the legality of Trump’s actions, the ongoing lawsuits to stop them, and ways to

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