Vol. 46, No. 3: The Next Four Years

Featured

Federal Government

Fixing the Department of Justice

by Robert N. Weiner

The leadership of the Department of Justice needs to renew confidence within and outside the department regarding their commitment both to the rule of law and to the department’s employees.

Healthcare & Pharmaceutics

The Next Four Years: How Will Health Care Coverage Change?

by Jane Perkins and Leonardo Cuello

President Biden faces enormous challenges in repairing and strengthening the health care safety net: addressing the COVID-19 pandemic, protecting Obamacare, working to expand coverage, and improving health equity.

Civil Rights & Constitution

The Civil Rights Challenge Facing the Biden Administration

by Jonathan M. Smith

The Biden administration must take bold steps to break the cycle that has allowed racism in the United States to fester, resulting in violent white supremacy, and move with urgency to bring the resources of the federal government to bear to address racial inequity and injustice.

LGBTQ Legal Issues

Reversing the Damage Done to LGBTQ+ Rights and Equality

by Emily Hecht-McGowan

After four years of attacks on the LGBTQ+ community by the Trump-Pence administration, President Biden will endeavor on the most comprehensive and ambitious plan for LGBTQ+ equality ever seen from a presidential administration.

Immigration

The Uphill Battle to Fix Immigration Courts and Immigrant Rights

by Marty Rosenbluth

The challenges faced by the Biden administration in fulfilling their promises to undo the damage done to our immigration system in the past four years are daunting.

Election

Restoring the Voting Rights Act in the Twenty-First Century

by Elizabeth M. Yang

To address revising the Voting Rights Act, we must first acknowledge the historic inequity of the right to vote and the inequities that still exist two centuries later.

Bias & Discrimination

We the People Must Pull America Back from the Abyss of Economic Injustice

by Francine J. Lipman

America is at a critical crossroads to change the course of growing economic inequality resulting from failed economic policies and systemic racial discrimination.

Tribal Law & Courts

The Next Four Years for Indian Country Need Human Rights

by Patty A. Ferguson-Bohnee and Lauren van Schilfgaarde

The Biden administration has a unique opportunity to craft meaningful federal Indian policy and to move federal Indian policy beyond the settler-colonial framework into a human and Indigenous rights framework.

Government

Rebuilding Trust through Government Transparency and Accountability

by Frank D. LoMonte

President Biden can start to rebuild the legitimacy of government institutions and trust in our leaders and system by providing transparency about the process of governance.

Criminal

The Next Four Years: What Biden Should Prioritize on Policing and Criminal Justice Reform

by Malia Brink

There are immediate steps President Biden can take to demonstrate a commitment to his criminal justice reform goals of reducing incarceration, rooting out discrimination, refocusing the system on rehabilitation, and ending profiteering from the system.

Environment

The Environment in the Next Four Years

by Emily Bergeron

Addressing our environmental crisis will require further action than returning to prior laws; new, data-driven legislation will necessitate working with subject-matter experts in science, engineering, public health, and medicine.

Civil Rights & Constitution

Frontline Democracy: We Are Our Own Heroes

by Claire L. Parins

In this issue of Human Rights, we honor voters’ rights advocates, poll workers, and lawyers who made sure ballots were counted; leaders in Congress, journalists, and ordinary citizens who protested, donated money, and held their government representatives accountable.

American Bar Association TM American Bar Association