News & Commentary

The best-publicized recent accounts of sexual harassment have come from elite industries such as Hollywood, the news media, and politics. But pervasive abuse is the norm in many less rarefied settings, as the #TimesUp movement aims to show. Research shows that anywhere f

We’ve all seen something like this on TV or in an old movie: A parent arrives at a police station to pick up their child, who, instead of being arrested and charged with a crime, has just been given a stern warning and an opportunity to make amends. The technical term for this practice is diversion, and it’s a critical tool in ending mass inc

In testimony before Congress yesterday, Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen confirmed that her agency is seeking the prosecution of state and local officials in jurisdictions that limit their entanglement with federal immigration enforcement.Even in the context of the Trump administration’s frequent disregard for the Constitution, Nielsen’s threat to prosecute mayors, legislators, and police chiefs over policy disagreements is shocking. There is no basis in federal law to prosecute government officials who decide, with and on behalf of their constituents, that their communities are better served by opting out of participation in the federal deportation system. And that kind of prosecution would be an assault on the principles at the core of our constitutional system.Nielsen’s threat may or may not be empty. Either way, it is unacceptable. We are now nearly one year into the Trump administration’s seemingly endless attempts to threaten, caj

If you got arrested, could you come up with the bail needed to buy your immediate freedom? For most people, the answer is no. Even though those arrest

The Trump Administration didn’t wait long to deliver its first blow to equality for transgender communities in 2017.Last February, the administration withdrew guidance issued by the Departments of Education and Justice in 2016 that helped public schools implement Title IX, the 45-year-old federal civil rights law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in education to make schools safer and more just for transgender students. Now, according to new reporting by the Huffington Post, the Trump administration is doubling down on exclusion and bigotry, with the Department of Education dismissing complaints of discrimination brought by transgender students. The Huffington Post reports that it uncovered at least three cases of alleged anti-transgender discrimination that the

This piece originally appeared at The Hill. Martin Luther King often spoke of the need for unconditional love. In 1955, 

Legal scholars and progressives have long expressed doubt about the utility of courts in advancing social justice. They argue that courts are inherently conservative, that victories often prompt costly backlashes, and that focusing on courts diverts attention from the more important work that needs to be done in the political arena. The first year of the Trump administration suggests that this skepticism is overstated. Much to the presi

This piece originally appeared at The Daily Beast.  For decades, politicians competed to see who could push the most dra

House leadership today once again caved to irresponsible fearmongering from the intelligence agencies and succeeded in jamming through a hastily drafted surveillance bill. In a 256-164 vote, the House passed a bill that would exte