We do not participate in elections or endorse or oppose candidates in any way and we are very grateful to be producing with the nyu center that advocates for civil debate on politics and public policy, and nyu votes, which works to give every nyu eligible student the information they need to vote. I am especially grateful to be introducing an event with some of the countrys most important thinkers on what i think is one of the most urgent issues we face, and theres a lot of competition. Weve been witnessing a relentless and unprecedented series of attacks on the twin foundations of our democratic system. Free and Fair Elections and the rule of law. They are not unrelated. The president has made repeated threats to subvert the election, some with support from the attorney general, sending military to the polls, Voter Suppression, and perhaps most chillingly refusing to commit to abide by the election results. Some are worried the rule of law has been so eroded in this country, it may be possible to literally steal an 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. Weve seen Law Enforcement weaponized for partisan and political gain. 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. Weve 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 Health Response to covid19. We have seen the ministrations politicize neutral institutions in the federal government from the Census Bureau to the center of the Disease Centers for Disease Control to the weather service. More broadly we have witnessed cases,tless stream of many unpunished, of Police Violence against black and brown people in america. Brutalization of those communities by people who are charged with protecting them. In short, we are facing a rule of law crisis. Like other crises, this one has its roots in problems that predate this administration. Our country is reckoning with racial violence and systemic racism is long overdue. We have tolerated the injustices and lawlessness directed at black and brown communities too long. This stream of abuses at the federal level has been made possible by longer standing erosions of democratic and rule of law norms. And one thing this administration has made abundantly clear is that the guardrails that we have traditionally relied upon to check abuses of power in government are too flimsy. And thats why the Brennan Center convened the National Task force on rule of law and democracy, a group of eminent cross ideological and cross partisan individuals with experience working at the highest level of democratic and republican administrations, at federal and state levels. Their mission is to shore up guardrails against the abuse of federal government power. There other members include a former solicitor general who is also joining us, the former delaware governor, a former white house advisor and professor, a former secretary of defense, a former u. S. Attorney and a former director of the office of government ethics. The work of this task force has been to create legislative proposals to shore up limits on executive power, safeguarding the rule of law, enforcing ethics standards, preventing political attacks on science within federal government, all without undermining the proper functioning of the executive branch. Their proposals would put teeth into the unwritten rules both parties agreed to follow in the past and almost every single one of the proposals [indiscernible] that should be a priority for the next congress. Of course, there is much more 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 im delighted to turn this over to my colleague, the deputy srector of the Brennan Center election reform program. Thank you all for joining us. I needed to unmute. Thank you so much. The panelists we have joining us today need no introduction. Im going to keep it very brief, Preet Bharara was a prosecutor at the department of justice and also chief counsel to senator chuck schumer. Today of course he is the host andstay tuned with preet the cochair of our National Task force that wendy mentioned. 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 was the 46th solicitor general of the United States. He is also a member of our National Task force, as wendy noted. Currently he is a partner at a renowned law firm and prior to partner whereso a i had the privilege of working under him briefly. Last but not least, Christine Todd whitman was the 50th governor of new jersey and also the ninth administrator of the United StatesEnvironmental Protection agency serving under president george w. Bush. She is currently the president of whitman strategies and as wendy noted the cochair of our National Task force. So with that, i would like to jump in with the first question. And im going to address that to our cochairs of our task force , and both of you have been speaking and writing about the issues that are on the front page from the president s tax returns to the politicization of Law Enforcement for years. Some would say you were a bit prescient on these issues. My question for you is theres a luck going on in the world right now, so maybe you could talk a little bit about why people should care and also why these issues should be a focus for policymakers. And, preet, if you want to go first, then we will turn to governor whitman. Preet its good to be with all of you, thank you for the introduction and its great to be with folks. We have a large online audience, so pleased to be with you on something so important. And my copanelists as well. You know, people have said from time to time, may you live in interesting times. Our times are a little bit too interesting and your question goes to this issue that we have of how many problems can we face as a nation . And obviously one of the most important things happening right now and one of the most devastating things the country has faced is this global pandemic. More than 200,000 people dead, so the spirit of your question, when people are dying, how do we have time and energy to focus on issues like rule of law or norms . Those seem to be luxuries in a democracy. I dont look at it that way. Obviously we need to care about science and science is one of the things the Task Force Governor whitman and i cochaired have been talking about. At the same time we are trying to stave off disease and trying to keep our country safe from the pandemic, we have to think not on the values of our country are. At some point were going to come out of the pandemic, and at what cost to our institutions . I also see a parallel between the issues that the challenges facing the Justice Department and challenges facing institutions dealing with the pandemic. It comes to an issue of independence, expertise, truth. All of those things i think factor into this issue of rule of law. The attacks on the department of justices independence, the attack on the department of justices rankandfile lawyers who have basic expertise in the cases that they bring and try and when appropriate, they dismiss. Those same challenges and attacks are happening with other institutions that are supposed to be independent and i think laypeople understand even more so, like the cdc or the nih. To me, theyre part of the same problem. If youre an administration who cares about politics over justice, or care about politics over medicine, and over epidemiology, then youre going to bring us to ruin. Respect to the department of justice and rule of law that sometimes can affect human lives and it is a matter of life and death, for george floyd was a matter of life and death. It is also fundamental to our values as a country. A country in which everyone is treated equally before the law or are we a country like some other nations around the world where the president gets to decide because he has the power of being the chief of the executive branch. We are going to bring the Law Enforcement on you if youre an adversary and we will take away the weight of Law Enforcement against you if youre an ally, and weve seen that in the flynn case, the stone case and so many others. So 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 could be really choked for a long time, even after the pandemic is gone. Im sure governor whitman has a lot to add that. You to then thank Brennan Center and the panelists for their dedication. This is a panel that has taken things seriously. We have discussed these issues on and on. It is a task force on the rule of law and democracy. The rule of law is not just limited to those departments that have the obvious responsibilities of enforcing the law. When were talking about the rule of law and democracy, we are also talking about institutionalizing those norms that have been the guardrails that have protected society and kept our government in bounds for so long. A brief mention of the pandemic. Obviously this is one of the most egregious or obvious 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 basis of things. What we are 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 they are confused, conflicting messages being 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, and not only have we lost over 210,000 individuals in this country alone, we have also seen the first of all the uneven impact on communities of color from this disease and the uneven impact on businesses for those communities as well as Small Business overall. And big business as well, when you see whats happening with the airlines and the people who are put on furlough. They dont know whether theyre going to have to job in another week or two or a month if congress cant move forward to get some bills through and you saw that our head economist basically, the head of the fed said today, jerome powell, that they in fact cannot spend enough money on this stimulus right now compared to what the damage that has been done to our economy. A lot of this is occurring is we have been ignoring those norms that we took for granted. That is one of the things are reports go to. Our reports 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, the white house actually intercedes the Justice Department. When is it appropriate, when isnt it . Putting some protections around the special prosecutors. And the Inspector Generals 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 those departments that have to enforce the laws need to do, but are very much part of the rule of law and democracy, which is what this task force has been all about. Thank you, governor. Theres a lot there in both remarks i want to come back to, but we had a president ial debate last tuesday. 100 years ago. As may you live in interesting times, as preet said. You know, folks may have noticed that law and order was a bit of a theme particularly for the president although both candidates spoke to it. Im wondering if you can talk a little bit about these implications of the rule of law law reallye rule of means to you. And particularly i think it would be great if you could situate that also in whats obviously going on right now, which is a historic reckoning in the ongoing struggle for Racial Justice. Thanks for that question. First let me say thank you to you and Brennan Center and its just wonderful to be part of this discussion. Im very heartened were having a conversation about the rule of law because i dont think we as a society do it often enough, so i very much appreciate this opportunity to be in dialogue with such an esteemed group of speakers. Its funny, a week after the 2016 election, i gave a lecture at John Jay College in new york about the topic about rethinking the phrase law and order and examining the very visceral response that those words evoked for different segments of our society. And that term law and order really gained political salience in 1968 when president Richard Nixon and alabama governor George Wallace both campaigned on varying platforms of law and order. Some of us are old enough to recall president reagans use of very coded racial appeals about socalled welfare queens to galvanize the white vote to restore law and order. You saw president h. W. Bush famously run an ad on the revolving door, alluding to the Violent Crimes of an man. Anamerican that phrase has been used throughout our political history and as we just saw in last weeks debate, its used as a dog whistle. It is used to foment racial resentment by associating the recent protests against Police Violence with lawlessness and disorder. And i just want to be clear about what 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. , thein the Brennan Center naacp Legal Defense fund is nonpartisan and does not endorse parties or candidates. And law and order has been used would say abusively by democrats and republicans alike. But what i want to point out is tacitlyt always referential of black people and other people of color and the perceived need for a greater Law Enforcement against them. And we have had nearly four years that have followed that call for law and order and in become anthere has increasingly fanatical appeal laden with nationalism, and white supremacist overtones, frankly. And the fact of the matter is in is law and order assumes a hierarchal racial order that uses law, and when that doesnt yield the desired result, it uses other means to preserve the status quo. But ill say this, at the same time, you also have a deafening crescendo voices in the streets of this country and around the world demanding in very important ways their own version of law and order. They are demanding a system of law that is protective of their lives or the lives of their neighbors and community members. In the same way that is protective of all lives in theory. They are demanding an order of justice where police can be held accountable. The rule of law is really central to this fight for Racial Justice because the rule of law is about consistency and fairness and accountability at all levels of government. Its the enforcement of laws to protect civil, human and constitutional rights. It is about preventing lawlessness in the form of Police Brutality and unchecked vigilante violence against africanamericans as we are seeing more often, and of course other groups. But if there were a true commitment to the true neutral concept of law and order, we wouldnt have witnessed the mobilization of the National Guard and other federal resources to use brutal force against protesters in dc and portland and other u. S. Cities over the objections of state and local officials. We would not have witnessed Law Enforcement actively supporting and even sympathizing with far right vigilante groups or the president of this country lioniz ing an illegally armed 17yearold who traveled to kenosha to commit heinous killings. And we wouldnt have seen the president use his part empowers to his pardon powers to reward political allies like Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio who engaged in blatant racial profiling. He lied about it in court and was held in contempt. We have seen other examples of abuse of that president ial authority. So ill just say in the end that this warped interpretation and application of law and order is diametrically opposed to the rule of law, and those of us who truly believe in the rule of law ignore that false equivalence at our own peril. Don, i want to bring it into the conversation and invite you to respond with everyone else. Another perspective actually is the experience of the attorney s and the other folks in the government who actually are doing the day to day work and by and large dedicated public