Most urgent issue we face and theres a lot of competition. Weve been witnessing a relentless and unprecedented seriesta of attacks on the twin foundations of our democratic system, free and Fair Elections and the rule of law. They are not unrelated to the president has made repeated threat to separate the election, some with support from the attorney general, suggesting he will military to the polls which is illegal, Voter Suppression of perhaps most chillingly refusing to commit to abide by theab election results. Some are worried that the rule of law has been so eroded in this country that it may be possible to literally steal the election, and we think there are strong legal and institutional safeguards against that, but the dramatic erosion of the rule of law in recent years is unmistakable. We you see Law Enforcement weaponized arew partisan and political gain come from threats of politically motivated prosecutions against political adversaries to the actual interference in prosecution in favor of the president s political allies and friends, to the improper use of the military to respond to protests and create political theater. We have seen politically motivated attacks on science and the scientific integrity of government institutions, and the Brennan Center has been tracking the impact of that on the Public Health response of covid19. And weve seen the administration politicized neutral institutions in the federal government from the Census Bureau to the center for Disease Control to the weather service. And more broadly we had witnessed a relentless stream of cases, many unpunished, of Police Violence against black and brown people in america. Brutalization of those communities by people who are charged with protectingge them. In short, were facing our rule of law crisis, but like other crises this and haske its roots and problems that predate this administration get our country is reckoning with violence and systemic racism, is i long overdue. We havent tolerated the injustices and lawlessness directed at black and brown communities too long. This train of abuses at the federal level has been made possible by longer standing erosions of democratic and rule of law norms. One thing this administration has made abundantly clear is that the guard rails that would traditionallyre relied upon to check abuses of power in government are too flimsy, and thats why at the Brennan Center convene a National Task force on rule of law and democracy, which is group of imminent cross ideological and cross partisan individuals with experience working at the highestth level f democratic and republican administrations, at the federal and state levels. Shore up aon is to guard rails against the abuse of federal government power. They are cochaired by former u. S. Attorney general Preet Bharaha and governor Christine Todd whitman are with us today and other members include former solicitor general don verrilli who is also joining us, former delaware governor mike hassett, for white house advisor and professor edley, former security of defend chuck hagel, former u. S. Attorney captain david iglesia, former director of the office of government ethics, amy comstock. The work of this task force is been to create legislative proposals to shore up limits on executive power, safeguarding the rule of law, enforcing ethics standards, preventing for political tax on science within federalpr government, all withot undermining the proper functioning of the executive branch. Their proposals would put real teeth into the guard rails and unwritten rules that both parties have agreed to follow in the past and almost every single one of their proposals is [inaudible] legislation pendingls before congress that should be a priority for the next congress. Of course there is much, much more that we need to do to build a National Commitment to the rule of law in which every person is truly equal before the law. So to discuss these issues and more i am delighted to turn this over to my colleague, dan weiner, Deputy Director of the Brennan Center election reform program. Thank you all for joining us. I needed to unmute there. Thank you so much, wendy. The panelists we have joining us today really need noo introduction time going to keep it very, very brief, but Preet Bharaha was the United States attorney for the Southern District of new york from 20092017 year prior to that he was prosecutor at the Department Justice and also chief counsel to senator chuck schumer. And today of course he is the host of stay tuned with preet, and the culture of our National Task force that wendy mentioned. Janai nelson is the associate director counsel at the naacp Legal Defense and education fund, and a leading practitioner of civil rights litigation in the country. Prior to that she was a professor at st. Johns law school and is a noted scholar of both constitutional and civil rights issues. Don verrilli was the 46th solicitor general ofci the unitd states turkey is also a member of our National Task force, as we noted. Currently, he is a partner at every now to law firm, prior to that is also a partner at jenner and block where i had the privilege of working under him briefly. And finally last but definitely not least Christine Todd whitman with a 50 is dash that was of new50th governor of jersey and also the night administrator of the United StatesEnvironmental Protection agency serving under president george w. Bush. She skirted the president of whitman w strategies and as we d noted the culture of our National Task force. So with that i would like to jump in with the first question. Im going to address that you are cochairs of our task force preet and governor whitman. Both the given speaking and writing about some off the issus that are on the front page from the president s tax returns to the politicization of Law Enforcement for years. Some might say you were a bit prescient on these issues. But my question for you is, theres a lot going on right now. Maybe you could talk ain little bit about why people should care, and also why these issues should be a focus for policymakers. Preet, if you want to go first and then we will turn to governor whitman. Sure. Its good to be with all of you. Thank you for the introduction andee its great to be with fol. I see we have a large online audience so please to be with you on something so important. And my copanelists as well. People are set from time to time may you live in interesting times. Our times are little bit too interesting. Your question goes to this issue that we have of how many problems can we face as a nation . One of the most important things happening rightpo now and the mt devastating things the country is ever face is this global pandemic. The whole world has been facing it. More than 200,000 people dead. I take the spirit of your question to be when people are dying how to be a time in energy to focus on issues like rule of law or norms . Though seems to be luxuries in a democracy. I dont look at it that way. We need to care about science, and sites is one of the things the task force that governor whitman and i cochair has been talking about. But at the same time were kind to stave off disease and try to keep our country safe from the pandemic we have to i think keep an eye on with the values of her country are. At some point were going to come out of the pandemic, and at what cost to our institutions . I also see a pillow between issues and thefa challenges facg the justicest department and the challenges facing institutions that arend dealing with the pandemic. It comes to the issue of independence, expertise, truth. All of those things i think factor into this issue of rule of law. This sort of attacks on the department of justice is independence, the attack on the rankandfile lawyers who have basic expertise in the cases that they bring and try, and when appropriate they dismiss. But those same things and attacks and challenges are happening with other institutions that are also supposed be independent at a fake laypeople understand it more so like the cdc or the nih. To meet their part of the same problem. An idea that if youre at an administration who cares about politics over justice or care about politics overe, medicine, and over epidemiology, then youre going to bring this to ruin. In the matter of the pandemic that brings us to ruin with respect to human lives. With respect to the department of justice and rule of law it sometimes can affect human lives. It is a matter ofum life and death. For george floyd it was a matter. Are we a country in which everyone is treated equally before the law or are we country like some of nations around the world with the president gets to decide because he has the power of being the chief of executive branch, were going too bring te weight of Law Enforcement upon if youre an officer and will take away the weight of Law Enforcement against you if youre an ally. Weve seen it in the flynn case, the stone case, and so many others. Its very important for us as a country to not lose sight of the fact that we have traditions and norms that are being trampled and that can be really choked for a long time, even after the pandemic is gone. Im sure governor whitman has a lot to add to that. Governor . Thank you, preet, and thanks anto the Brennan Center as alwas to bring this task was to get all the Panel Members for their dedication. This is the panel that is taken things very seriously as you all know. We discussed these issues on and on. Whats important toce remember,f the tassel from the rule of law and democracy. The rule of law is not just limited to those departments that have thehe obvious responsibility of enforcing the law. When we are talking about rule of law, were talking about institutionalizing those norms that up in the guard rails that have protected society and kept our government within bounds for so long. Examples of where we have gone off the guardrails, because it used to be that there was a very clear respect for pure science. That while policy always determined at the end of the day how you use that science, it wasnt politics and theres a difference between partisan politics and policy. And pure science has to be the at science has to be the basis of things. What were seeing today, every day, has been a dismissing of science and scientists. A looking the other way. Of false information going out to people so that theyre confused, conflicting messages sent to people. So they dont know how to react. They dont know how to respond to this and this virus is not just a medical emergency, its an economic catastrophe as well. Not only have we lost over 210,000 individuals in this country alone, we have also seen, first of all, the uneven impact on communities of color from this disease and uneven impact on these communities, small business, big business as well when you see what happens in the airlines and people who are put on furlough. They dont know whether theyre going to have a job in another week or two or month if congress cant move forward to get some bills through. And you saw that the that our head economist basically, the head of the fed today, jerome powell, that, in fact, they cant spend nuture money on this stimulus right now, compared to what the damage thats being done to our economy. And a lot of this is occurring because we have been ignoring those norms that we took for granted, and thats one of the things that our reports, there are two of them, go to. They go to common sense, bipartisan, nonpartisan ways to address these issues. And to finally put some parameters around science, transparency of science, so people can see it. Governing how the executive department of the white house, actually, intercedes with the Justice Department and when is it and putting some protections around the special prosecutors. And the Inspector General. So that they can only be dismissed for cause and even then, that should be reviewed. There are a lot of things here that speak to beyond what the actual, those departments that have to enforce the law need to do, but are very much a part of the rule of law and democracy, which is what this task force has been all about. Thank you, governor. There are a lot in your remarks that id like to get to, but id like to bring janay into the conversation. We had a president ial debate last tuesday, it seems like it was 100 years ago. We live in these times as we said. But folks may have noticed that law and order was a bit after theme, particularly for the president , although both candidates spoke to it. And im wondering if you can talk a little about, you know, these indications that the rule of law and what the rule of law really means to you and particularly, i think it would be great if he you could situate that also in whats obviously going on right now, which is a historic reckoning in the ongoing struggle for Racial Justice. Sure, i think that that question, first of all, let me say thank you to you and the Brennan Center and its just wonderful to be part of this decision, and i know youre heartened that were having a conversation about the rule of law because i dont think that we as a society do it often enough though i very much appreciate this opportunity to be in dialog with such esteemed speakers. Its funny, a week after the i gave it lecture at john Jacobs College in new york about this topic, rethinking the phrase law and order, and examining the very viceral response that those words evoke for different segments of our society. And that term law and order really gained salience when Richard Nixon and george wall ran on law and order and some of us remember reagans socalled welfare queens, and the white vote to restore law and order. We saw president h. W. Bush run an ad on the revolving door, alluding to the Violent Crimes of an africanamerican man Willie Horton and also to invoke a call to law and order. And that phrase has been used in our political history and in last weeks debate, its used as a dog whistle for racial resentment, the recent protests against Police Violence with lawlessness and disorder. And i want to be clear about the invocation of law and order is. Its not limited to any one Political Party so this is in no way a castigation of a single party and like the Brennan Center, the naacp Legal Defense fund is not partisan, and law and order has been used by republicans and democrats alike. Its often, if not always, tacitly referential of black people and other people of color and the perceived need for greater Law Enforcement against them. And weve had, you know, nearly four years that have followed that call for law and order and in that time it has become an increasingly fanatical appeal laden with nationalism and white supremacist overtones, frankly. The fact of the matter is law and order resumes a hierarchical racial order that uses law and that doesnt yield the desired results, it uses other means to preserve the status quo. But also, at the same time, you have a deafening crescendo around the world demanding in very important ways their own version of law and order. Theyre demanding a system of law, you know, that is protective of their lives or the lives of their neighbors and community members, in the same way that its protective of all lives in theory. And theyre demanding an order of justice where police can be held accountable. And the rule of law is really central to this fight for Racial Justice because, you know, at bottom, the rule of law is about consistency and fairness, and accountability, at all levels of government. Its the enforcement of laws to protect the civil human and constitutional rights. Its about preventing state sanctions, lawlessness in the form of Police Brutality and, you know, unchecked vigilante violence against africanamericans in which were seeing more often and of course, against other groups. But if there were a true commitment to the rule of law and to a neutral concept of law and order, we wouldnt have witnessed the localization. National guard and other federal resources to use brutal force against protesters in d. C. And portland and other u. S. Cities over the objections of state and local officials. We would not have written as Law Enforcement actively supporting and sympathizing with far right vigilante groups or the president of this country lionizing a 17yearold in kenosha to commit heinous killings and the president that hes alluded to to reward political allies like arizona sheriff joe arpaio, who engaged in racial profiling, he lied about it to a court. He was held in contempt for refusing to follow court orders and weve seen other abuse of that president ial authority. Ill say in the end this warped interpretation and application of law and order is die metr diametrically opposed. Thank you, i want you to respond and another perspective is that actually you and preet can speak to is the experience of the attorneys and the other folks in the government who actually are doing the daytoday work and are by and large, you know, the department of justice dedicated Public Servants and how is this affecting the institution . I know its something youve spoken out before