Really grateful to all of you for being here as we launched the discussion of my new book the fight to vote eric this book really reflects not only the research and work ive had a chance to do but the work of the Brennan Center for justice. We heard a little bit about it. We are privileged to be partly a think tank and partly a Legal Advocacy Group and partly a Communications Hub devoted not to do precise specifics of Justice Brennan and his jurisprudence, but taking we hope is ethos that the law above all else must respect Human Dignity and that the constitution above all else must be understood as a charter for each generation. We are able to take this charge. We have 20 years from now here at the law school. We are in the fight on Voting Rights come on money and politics, on the drive to in mass incarceration, and so many more things. This book, this part of the battle of ideas reflects back. Im asked a lot why do this book now . Why do this book now . This is without question one of the most tumultuous and challenging moments for our democracy in many years. We know that this is a crazy, topsyturvy election with deep public anger at a system manifesting itself in all kinds of ways in many directions. Is the election we will see 16 states with the new voting laws designed to make it harder to vote for the First Time Since the jim crow era in effect and a high turnout president ial election. This will be the first president ial election since the training Supreme Court guided the heart of the Voting Rights act, the most successful single civil rights statute the country as event. It is an election where the consequences of Citizens United and other misguided decisions by the Supreme Court are beginning to be felt more and more and more, especially at the level below the presidency. In the last Election Voter turnout in the United States dropped to the lowest level in seven decades. There are pressures on our democracy of a kind we have not seen for a long time. There are pressures on the question of whose Voice Matters and whether the right to vote is a meaningful thing in the way weve not seen for a long time. The question i wanted to ask in researching this book is wasnt always this way . Why now, but how does this moment compared to the past . And what is the usable and learnable history we can draw from . Heres what i found. Todays controversies and fights are intense. They are controversial. They are consequential, but they are not new. This fight to vote has been at the heart of American Life from the beginning. Its a debate thats been at the center of american politics, including elections, from the beginning. The fight to vote did not start this year or last year. It didnt start 50 years ago at selma. Its been going on for 240 years, from the beginning. Its been raw and rowdy and partisan at every step of the way. It has always been about more than just the formal rules of who can cast a ballot. Its intended with the role of wealth and money, with class, with race, and with the many, many ways that politicians and their friends and allies have figured out to rig the rules from the beginning to benefit their cause or their site. So what was that beginning . How does the story start . The book starts with Thomas Jefferson in philadelphia in the heat of revolution riding the declaration of independence and the preamble. And, of course, we know that this was a time of insurrection. He wrote memorably that government was only legitimate if it rested on the consent of the government. And, of course, he wrote that while being attended to by a slave, a 14 yearold slave boy, bob hemmings, Sally Hemings brother. And at that time the colonies, america was anything but a democracy. The colonists, the rebuilt against britain, didnt think all that much about who could vote, the rules were pretty fixed. To vote you had to be a white man who owned property, a certain set amount of property, an amount fixed in the middle ages. But the revolution begin to break that certainty. The idea that you need consent from the government begin to take on a life of its own. And even during the revolution more than we realize there was a debate that was controversial. Benjamin franklin led a working mans revolt in pennsylvania. What are the only times there was an actual industries pitchfork wielding mob type resolution in the american resolution revolution. Demanded the right to vote for all meant whether they owned property. Franklin said today, a man owns a jackass worth 50 he is entitled to vote. But before the next election the jackass guys. A man loses his right to vote. And for me, who is in the right of suffrage . In demand or in the jackass . He may not its a jackass but thats of the quote. So the people understood that things are going to have to change but at every step of the way throughout this whole history of some americans demanded a voice at the table and demand the right to expand democracy, others fought to hold them back, then and now. John adams was aghast at the idea of extending the right to vote to men without property. He said, he was urged to do this in massachusetts. He said its a terrible idea. He said women will demand to vote your labs will think their rights not enough attended to. And demand who has not a farthing will depend on equal voice with any other and all acts of state. John adams said there will be no end of it. And he was right. That is a pretty good prediction of what happened the next two centuries. I will talk longer now that my watch is no longer on the podium. [laughter] the first great break through was on the role of wealth. The same kind of debate we are having over Citizens United. The move to break as i did that you need to be a Property Owner to vote. It was a move to enfranchise white men without property, and affect the white workingclass who loomed so large in this election. It was led not by citizen movements but by canny, suave, political insiders like Martin Van Buren of new york. Van buren them one state senator that another state senator, he said i bet i can get van buren to give a straight answer to question. He said, mr. Van buren, does the sun rise in the east . And van buren said, oh, as i never a way that early i couldnt say for sure. He was the one who won the right to vote for men without property. But fo the were people fightingo prevent that as well. John randolph a name lost to history but exhumed recently five against adding to the voting rolls, and his motto was, he said i am an aristocrat. I love liberty. I hate equality. He prevented virginia from expanding its Voting Rights. But by the middle of the 1800s the United States was the most profound democracy the world has ever seen. They were for the first time that Political Parties with really high voter turnout. Democracy was a fad and they begin to feed on itself and people understood there were more people who were left out. The next great breakthrough came during and after the civil war. A war when hundreds of thousands of africanamericans served the union army and, in fact, when lincoln gave his inaugural address, his second great inaugural, a large part of the audience were africanamericans in uniform. Now lincoln was not for solo career was opposed to what he writes for africanamericans. Strongly opposed but he began, his first stab at reconstruction, disenfranchised former slave and enfranchised those who taken up arms against the country but he began to change. Two days after the surrender of the south at appomattox, lincoln gave his first speech about what he wanted to happen during reconstruction. From a second floor window of the white house. He said i have been criticized on this voting issue. People have criticized me and my plans regarding franchising the former slaves. I now agree. I think that people who have served in uniform or educated should be able to vote. He gave indication he would go further. At least one member of the audience understood the significance of this. John wilkes booth, he said that means citizenship. That is the last speech people ever do. He tried to get the guy standing next them to shoot lincoln on the spot. When the man refused he said well then, ill do it. Two days later he went to forge the. Thats what set off the sport. We all know the story, the tragic story of what happened next. The Republican Party devoted to Voting Rights as has been with the democrats through most of the countrys history, pushed through the 15th amendment to give Voting Rights to the former slaves. It was a flowering of democracy in the south. Are not rates among africanamerican men in the south approached 90 . Hundreds of africanamericans served in congress or legislatures even as governor. But a violent response from the ku klux klan and cynical and cowardly deals pulling the army back to barracks into debt. We know of course that was a brutal crackdown on voting in the south. It didnt happen right away but by the end of the 19th century it had erased the gains in almost entire disenfranchisement of africanamericans. And in the north people dont realize similar things happen. The cities of the north were now crowded with immigrants. Com mexico, from ireland and from italy and from europe, catholics. This terrified and alarmed to establish protestant powers that be at the time. They tried to crack down and succeeded in striking down on voting in cities by the new immigrant working class. John adams greatgrandson said universal suffrage can only mean in plain english the government of ignorance. It means a european and especially celtic proletarian ovulate the coast and african proletarian on the shores of the gulf and the chinese proletarian in california. That was what they were worried about. They passed a variety of roles that begin to suppress turnout among the working class in the north. This is important to understand not merely because its picturesque, because you things like walt whitman writing denouncements. But because it reminded us that for all the progress and general positive direction that it is going backward. That is what happened and at the same time you had another factor, a new factor, the massive flood of Campaign Money from the robber barons up that gilded age from the 1 of the gilded age. By the end of 19 century democracy was really, really, moving backwards. What happened next as the 20th century began . One hopes a lesson for us. There was a response, a period of reform and revitalization which we call the progressive era. It focus more than people realize on this question of the vote. They passed to constitutional amendments dealing with voting. The first was one of the versions of Campaign Finance reform. It was the 17th amendment to give the vote to citizens for United States senate because they felt the state legislatures were deeply corrupt and in the pockets of the bidders at the time. Teddy roosevelt, so many others, let these movements. But the other which were often overlooked as a very significant response as a part of the idea that you would do with power of money for the vote was the 19th amendment. Its very easy as we think about women gained the right to vote. You look at textbook, then women got the right to vote. It is passed over. But it was every bit as fiercely fought, as quickly agitated and as hard as later gains were. Its a story i learned in researching this. Its amazing to know that so many of us dont know this story. Seneca falls happened in 1848. That was when women first that we should have the right to vote, but, frankly, not a whole lot happened after that. It was not until around 19101912 that young women, many of them graduate Student Living in england with the Suffrage Movement came back and said we would do something audacious. We will try to pass a constitutional amendment. The day before his president ial inaugural, Woodrow Wilson got off the train in washington, d. C. , and nobody was there to greet him. At Princeton Glee Club was there to greet him and that was about it. The New York Times said, the charitable we to say, they made up in enthusiasm what they lack in numbers. Wilson said were all the people . They were done on pennsylvania avenue. 5000 women were marching for womens suffrage in a remarkable parade, many of them in somewhat are prosperous costumes. At least to our eyes. Leading that parade, this is irrelevant here at nyu school of law, leading that parade on a white horse dressed in the costume of a greek goddess and carrying a banner was a dazzling woman. Her name was inez mulholland. She was a recent graduate of nyu school of law. A labor lawyer and agitator who has a professorship named after her until quite recently. I guarantee you almost know when you who she was. She was on the horse and 5000 women arrayed around her. Lining pennsylvania avenue, 100,000 men. Many of them drunk. They were there for the inauguration. They then started throwing things. They broke through the lines. They assaulted the women. 100 women were sent to the hospital. They thought their way to the end. It was a huge deal as you can imagine. Widely publicized. The police chief had resigned his job to get dominated the coverage of Woodrow Wilsons inaugural and Public Opinion swung in support of womens suffrage. It was just like selma 50 years later. But it still took five years of hunger strikes and pickets and electoral advocacy before, and the income of Woodrow Wilson whose Political Base was the south and to didnt think there ought to be any mucking around with Voting Rights, and to wilson backed womens suffrage and the 19th amendment happened. The names of those leadership, alice paul, inez mulholland, we dont know them. They were the Martin Luther king and the john lewis of that movement. The 20th century was a time of continued democratic expansion. The great instance when the courts finally got involved and set out the standards you needed one person one vote, all culminating in the 1960s in the great crimes of the civil rights movement, especially in 1965 Voting Rights act. That store you all know. Thats been told so many times and especially we had a recent anniversary. Youve seen in movies, in the recent movie soma. Selma. The story is more complex and interesting than you might imagine. Dr. Martin luther king proclaimed to a mass meeting in selma and genuine of that year 1965, we will bring a voting bill into being on the streets of selma. It was the pressure of those courageous activists willing to risk their lives and their safety the Fourth National government to act. National it was this incredibly elaborate dance between these two visually southern leaders, king and johnson. I write about in the book. Kenya never told, they would meet repeatedly and johnson would say look, im for Voting Rights but not yet. We have to pass the great society. Kingwood push and then shot we get worked up and start telling king of the award was. Kingwood tried to about the political benefits. Johnson was secretly drafting the Voting Rights act and negotiating it was republicans and never told king. King was preparing to march and never told johnson. You all know the violence televised at Edmund Pettus bridge. The repulsion that followed johnsons moment of courage where he stood up and told the congress we shall overcome. And the incredible changes that happen in the south since then. Voting rights soaring immediately after that. And so many other things followed. The end of the poll tax, constitutional an end to end poll tax around the time. The vote going to 18yearolds, new laws, Campaign Finance and other things. It seeme seem like a basic rulef american democracy were set. And in the last 15 years have seen a change. The last 15 years o have seen nw pressures as i said in the beginnings of a slide back to the point were i to her strong that we are at a potential Tipping Point were things could really go wrong. What happened . As i said in some areas its been progressives, other areas conservatives, sometimes the democrats, sometimes republicans to push back on the stove. There is a concerted political strategy by the modern conservative movement to restrict voting and restrict the rules of democracy the way weve not seen in a long time. They take their cue from something that was said by a man named paul wyrick. I dont know how many of you remember him. He was among other things, he founded the Heritage Foundation and founded the organization alchemy which rights laws around the country. And in a key moment in 1980 with Ronald Reagan speaking to the evangelicals as the modern conservative coalition formed, he said look, i want to be clear, we dont want everybody to be able to vote. We do worse when everybody is able to vote. And that has become the mantra, spoken or unspoken, that has guided way too much of recent activity. In 2011 screaming about voter fraud and as a factual matter, the kind of voter impersonation being described is vanishingly rare. You are more likely to be killed by lightning than to commit in person impersonation in the tiny. 19 state legislatures past 24 new laws making it harder for people to vote for the