You may have first seen Heather McGhee on Meet the Press or Real Time with Bill Maher or Hardball with Chris Matthews, but on Saturday, May 6, the progressive pundit made an appearance at All Souls hosted by the Women’s Alliance. As the featured speaker at the Alliance’s Spring Event, she covered a wide range of topics from the economy to last fall’s election to immigration and racial prejudice.
LatinoJustice and Dēmos submitted an amici curiae brief to the U.S. Supreme Court in support of a petition for certiorari challenging Michigan’s controversial Emergency Manager Law, Public Act (PA) 436.
May 10, 2017 (New York, NY) – Following yesterday's announcement that President Trump fired the director of the F.B.I., James B. Comey, Heather McGhee, President of the New York-based public policy think tank Demos, issued the following statement:
In a letter sent today to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, twenty-four groups and individuals with expertise in government integrity and accountability expressed deep concern about President Trump’s inappropriate firing of FBI Director James Comey yesterday.
The letter called on Rosenstein “to promptly appoint an independent Special Counsel, as authorized by Justice Department regulations, to now oversee and conduct the Russia investigation that Director Comey was leading for the FBI when he was fired yesterday.”
Dear Governor Abbott:
On behalf of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights and the undersigned national civil and human rights organizations, we write to express our strong disappointment over the enactment of S.B. 4, a bill that threatens to drastically and unwisely expand the involvement of state and local law enforcement authorities in the enforcement of federal immigration laws. This bill raises profound legal, constitutional, and public policy concerns that must be addressed.
Legal Action taken due to State’s Failure to Comply with "Motor Voter" Law
SACRAMENTO, CA —Voting rights groups filed a federal lawsuit today against California’s Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) for its failure to offer federally mandated voter registration opportunities to millions of Californians.
Since 2006, states across the country have implemented strict voter ID laws, which require photo identification at polling places. Extensive research has suggested that these laws are motivated by racism and partisanship.
A 2015 report by Demosfound that California had one of the country’s the lowest ratios of DMV voter registration applications to DMV transactions, between 0.01 and 0.1. [...]
Summary
Priorities USA is in the midst of a research project analyzing “swing voters” and “turnout voters” in the 2016 election in order to glean lessons that can be applied to strengthen Democrats in elections in 2018, 2020 and beyond. The initial analysis, conducted via polling and focus groups, has now continued with an examination of the impact of voter identification laws.
Our analysis shows Trump accelerated a realignment in the electorate around racism, across several different measures of racial animus—and that it helped him win. By contrast, we found little evidence to suggest individual economic distress benefited Trump. [...]
May 5, 2017 (New York, NY) – Amidst multiple ongoing investigations into the shooting death of 15-year-old Jordan Edwards at the hands of a Texas police officer, Heather McGhee, President of the New York-based public policy think tank Demos, issued the following statement:
“Jordan Edwards was a 15-year-old freshman at Mesquite High School, in a suburb of Dallas, Texas. He was loved by his parents, his siblings, and his friends, who will now have to miss him every day for the rest of their lives.
Donald Trump campaigned as the defender of working Americans. In his inaugural address, Trump vowed that every decision he made would be to benefit America’s workers. Yet his proposed federal budget, Cabinet appointments, and other actions since taking office suggest little concern for workers’ wages, safety, and overall well-being.
May 4, 2017 (New York, NY) – Following the passage of Trumpcare in the House of Representatives, Tamara Draut, Vice President of Policy and Research at Demos, a New York based public policy think tank, issued the following statement:
Baltimore, MD – Today, Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh issued guidance to Maryland state and local governments regarding the rights and obligations of law enforcement officials in immigration enforcement. The Attorney General’s guidance makes clear that the U.S. and Maryland Constitution govern and limit state and local law enforcement cooperation with federal immigration enforcement, and that the Trump administration’s recent policy initiatives are constitutionally questionable.
Investing in a rapid transition to 100% renewable energy and clean transportation, while protecting environmentally vulnerable communities from the worst effects of climate change, comprise what is arguably the most important fiscal choice we have to make as a country over the next decade.
