Hubbry Logo
Michael WaldmanMichael WaldmanMain
Open search
Michael Waldman
Community hub
Michael Waldman
logo
8 pages, 0 posts
0 subscribers
Be the first to start a discussion here.
Be the first to start a discussion here.
Michael Waldman
Michael Waldman
Michael Waldman
View on Wikipedia
from Wikipedia

Michael A. Waldman is an American attorney, a presidential speechwriter, and political advisor, currently serving as the president of the Brennan Center for Justice, a nonprofit law and policy institute whose operations are centered at the New York University School of Law.[1] Waldman has led the center since 2005.[2]

Key Information

Education

[edit]

Waldman earned a bachelor of arts degree from Columbia University in 1982 and a juris doctor from the New York University School of Law in 1987.[3] During law school, Waldman worked on the New York University Law Review.[4]

Career

[edit]

From 1993 to 1995, Waldman was a special assistant to President Bill Clinton for policy coordination. As the top White House policy aide on campaign finance reform, he drafted the Clinton administration's public financing proposal. From 1995 to 1999, he was director of speechwriting, serving as assistant to the president, and was responsible for writing or editing nearly 2,000 speeches, including four State of the Union and two Inaugural addresses.[2]

Prior to his government service, Waldman was the executive director of Public Citizen's Congress Watch, then the capital's largest consumer lobbying office (1989–92).[5] After working in the government, he was a lecturer in public policy at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government (2001–03), teaching courses on political reform, public leadership, and communications.[6] He was a partner in a litigation law firm in New York City and Washington, D.C.

In a September 2000 interview with PBS, he discussed his experiences at the White House, including his role as speechwriter, President Clinton's communication style, and the White House response to events such as the Oklahoma City bombing and the Lewinsky scandal.[7]

On April 9, 2021, Waldman was named to the Presidential Commission on the Supreme Court of the United States by President Joe Biden.[8]

Media appearances

[edit]

Waldman appears frequently on television and radio to discuss public policy, the presidency, and the law. Appearances include Good Morning America; PBS Newshour, CBS Evening News; the O'Reilly Factor; Nightline; 60 Minutes; Hardball with Chris Matthews; CNN's Crossfire; the Dylan Ratigan Show; live commentary on NBC (State of the Union) and ABC (Obama inaugural); NPR's Morning Edition; All Things Considered; Fresh Air; Diane Rehm; The Colbert Report; and many other programs. He writes frequently for publications including The New York Times, Washington Post, Newsweek, Slate, and Democracy.

Writing

[edit]

Waldman is the author of several books, including:

  • Who Robbed America? A Citizens' Guide to the S&L Scandal. Random House. 1990. ISBN 0-679-73482-1.
  • POTUS Speaks: Finding the Words That Defined the Clinton Presidency. Simon & Schuster. 2000. ISBN 978-0-7432-0020-2.
  • My Fellow Americans: The Most Important Speeches of America's Presidents from George Washington to Barack Obama. Sourcebooks. 2010 [2003]. ISBN 978-1-4022-4367-7.
  • A Return to Common Sense: Seven Bold Ways to Revitalize Democracy. Sourcebooks. 2008. ISBN 978-1-4022-1365-6.
  • The 2nd Amendment: A Biography. Simon & Schuster. 2014. ISBN 978-1-4767-4744-6.
  • The Fight to Vote. Simon & Schuster. 2017. ISBN 978-1-9821-9893-0. Revised edition, 2022.
  • The Supermajority: How the Supreme Court Divided America. Simon & Schuster. 2023. ISBN 978-1-6680-0606-1.

Personal life

[edit]

Waldman spent the majority of his childhood in Great Neck, New York.[9] He is married to Elizabeth Fine, counsel to New York Governor Kathy Hochul.[10] She was general counsel to the New York City Council and deputy assistant attorney general for the United States during the Clinton administration. Together they have three children.[11] Waldman and his family reside in Brooklyn, New York.

His brother, Steven Waldman, co-founded Beliefnet and formerly served as a senior advisor to the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission.[12]

References

[edit]
[edit]
Revisions and contributorsEdit on WikipediaRead on Wikipedia

Michael Waldman

View on Grokipedia
from Grokipedia

Michael Waldman is an American constitutional lawyer, author, and nonprofit executive who has served as president and CEO of the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law since 2005, leading efforts to reform systems of democracy and justice. From 1995 to 1999, he directed speechwriting for President Bill Clinton, authoring or editing nearly 2,000 speeches including four State of the Union addresses and two Inaugural Addresses. Waldman has authored several books on constitutional topics, including examinations of the Second Amendment's original meaning, voting rights history, and the Supreme Court's influence on American governance. Under his leadership, the Brennan Center has advocated for expanded voting access, campaign finance restrictions, and opposition to practices like gerrymandering, though its positions have drawn criticism for prioritizing procedural expansions over fraud prevention measures.

Early Life and Education

Academic Background and Formative Influences

Michael Waldman earned a degree from Columbia College in 1982. His undergraduate studies occurred amid New York City's dynamic urban political landscape of the late 1970s and early 1980s, which contemporaries described as providing an immersive "urban experience" fostering engagement with real-world governance issues. He pursued legal education at School of Law, receiving a in 1987 and serving as a member of the NYU Law Review. Verifiable details on specific coursework, such as in , or notable mentors remain sparse in public records, though his selection for the Law Review indicates strong scholarly aptitude in legal analysis. Early intellectual development appears rooted in familial predispositions toward politics, with reports suggesting a background conducive to interests predating formal academia. Limited documentation exists on pre-collegiate influences, emphasizing instead the empirical record of his academic progression during a period marked by national debates on federal power and democratic institutions under the Reagan administration.

Professional Career

Service in the Clinton Administration

Michael Waldman was appointed Deputy Assistant to the President and Director of Speechwriting on December 22, 1995, succeeding Robert S. Rubin in the role. In this position, he oversaw a team responsible for drafting and editing nearly 2,000 speeches delivered by President Bill Clinton, focusing on domestic and economic policy communications. On July 1, 1997, Waldman was promoted to Assistant to the President while retaining his directorship, enhancing his influence in shaping the administration's public messaging amid a period of Republican congressional control following the 1994 midterm elections. Waldman's tenure included crafting key addresses on domestic initiatives, such as those articulating the administration's efforts. He contributed to speeches surrounding the signing of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act on August 22, 1996, which ended the Aid to Families with Dependent Children program and introduced time limits and work requirements for recipients. Among his notable outputs were four State of the Union addresses, including the 1996 version that emphasized "the era of big government is over" while promoting balanced budgets and opportunity-based reforms. From 1997 to 1999, Waldman managed speechwriting during the late-1990s , with speeches highlighting low , budget surpluses, and growth rates averaging over 4% annually. This period overlapped with the House impeachment proceedings against in December 1998 over perjury and obstruction related to the affair, during which Waldman helped formulate responses, including the 1999 address delivered amid the Senate trial. He departed the in 1999 at the end of Clinton's second term, transitioning to roles in nonprofit policy and academia.

Leadership at the Brennan Center for Justice

Michael Waldman has served as president and CEO of the since 2005, initially joining as before assuming the top leadership role. Under his direction, the organization, housed at NYU School of Law, expanded its focus on nonpartisan law and policy work aimed at strengthening democracy and justice systems, including voting rights, , and . Waldman's tenure has overseen significant organizational growth, with the staff increasing to 190 members by , incorporating experts such as 13 social scientists, three former secretaries of state, and two winners. This expansion supported broader programmatic reach, evidenced by the Brennan Center's website attracting 21 million visits and its newsletter gaining 400,000 subscribers in the same year. Strategically, leadership emphasized data-driven analysis and cross-ideological collaboration to address systemic challenges in elections and incarceration. Key initiatives during Waldman's presidency include efforts on redistricting reform following the 2010 Census, where the center produced reports analyzing congressional control and impacts to promote fairer districting processes. In , the organization advanced data analysis on issues like prison gerrymandering and funding reforms to reduce mass incarceration, highlighting how counting incarcerated individuals at prison locations distorts representation. Responses to challenges from 2016 to 2020 involved policy recommendations for secure voting systems, independent administration, and countering suppression tactics through litigation and advocacy. In recent years, the Brennan Center under Waldman coordinated extensive 2024 election monitoring, including 150 safety exercises across more than 35 states and distribution of 100,000 guides to police for . Post-2024, the annual report highlighted a bipartisan accord via the Leaders initiative, which grew to 200 members of current and former police chiefs advocating alternatives to incarceration amid declining rates since 2022. Leadership also pursued reforms like updates to the Insurrection Act with bipartisan congressional support, adapting to evolving political dynamics including heightened scrutiny of federal election rules and state-level changes through 2025.

Academic and Teaching Roles

Waldman served as a lecturer in at Harvard University's School of Government from 2001 to 2003. In this capacity, he taught courses on and , drawing on his prior experience as a White House . He also delivered a module on "Speeches and Speechwriting: Beyond the " as an adjunct lecturer at the Kennedy School. Through the , which he has led since 2005 and which is housed at NYU School of —his (J.D., 1987)—Waldman maintains an institutional affiliation with legal academia. This role facilitates engagement with NYU students and faculty via colloquia and seminars on constitutional topics, though formal instruction at NYU has not been documented in public records. His pedagogical contributions emphasize practical analysis of democratic institutions, informed by first-hand policy experience rather than traditional tenure-track scholarship.

Writings and Publications

Major Books and Their Arguments

In The Second Amendment: A Biography (2014), Waldman presents a historical account of the amendment's interpretation, contending that its original understanding in the founding era emphasized a collective right to bear arms for organized service under state control, rather than an unqualified individual right disconnected from civic duties. He argues this collective view persisted through the 19th and early 20th centuries, with courts and scholars viewing the amendment as safeguarding state against federal overreach, while the shift toward an individual right gained traction amid 20th-century cultural and political advocacy, particularly by the starting in the 1970s. Waldman details how this evolution culminated in the Supreme Court's 2008 ruling in , which for the first time affirmed an individual right to possess firearms for traditionally lawful purposes like in the home, marking a departure from prior precedent. Waldman's The Supermajority: How the Divided America (2023) analyzes the Court's 2021–2022 term, asserting that the six-justice conservative majority exercised its dominance to overturn long-standing precedents and expand federal judicial power into domains traditionally left to legislatures and executives. He contends this "" delivered transformative decisions, including Dobbs v. (2022), which eliminated the constitutional right to abortion by overruling (1973); New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen (2022), which struck down public carry restrictions under a history-and-tradition test; and rulings curtailing agency authority under , such as (2022). Waldman argues these outcomes reflect not consistent but a results-oriented that prioritizes policy preferences on culture-war issues, thereby deepening national divisions and undermining democratic processes.

Articles, Speeches, and Policy Papers

Waldman has authored numerous op-eds and analysis pieces for outlets including , focusing on threats to integrity and executive overreach. In an August 8, 2025, piece, he argued that former President Donald Trump's influence posed the primary risk to U.S. processes, citing federal efforts to centralize control over state-administered voting. Similarly, on August 21, 2025, he described Trump's executive actions as an attempt to consolidate power over elections, potentially affecting the midterms by undermining state authority. These writings emphasize structural safeguards against partisan interference, drawing on constitutional precedents. In policy-oriented speeches, Waldman addressed the emergence of pro-democracy activism. During the Brennan Center's Legacy Awards Dinner on November 13, 2018, he delivered "The Birth of a Democracy Movement," highlighting efforts to counter erosion in voting rights and rules, framing them as a response to post-2010 legal shifts. More recently, in a October 9, 2024, lecture at titled "How States Can Prevent Election Subversion in 2024 and Beyond," he outlined state-level reforms to mitigate risks of outcome denial, such as strengthening certification protocols and bipartisan oversight, based on 2020 election data showing robust administration despite challenges. Waldman's congressional testimonies serve as key policy papers advocating for election safeguards. On September 24, 2020, he testified before the on voting rights, detailing Brennan Center litigation and in 18 states to expand access amid the , while critiquing unsubstantiated fraud claims with empirical evidence from prior elections. In commentary on post-2024, a January 14, 2025, analysis noted unprecedented billionaire dominance in political spending, attributing it to deregulatory rulings and calling for transparency measures without reversing core First Amendment protections. These works consistently prioritize verifiable administrative data over partisan narratives.

Policy Positions and Advocacy

Interpretations of the Constitution and Bill of Rights

Michael Waldman supports a living constitutionalism framework for interpreting the U.S. and , positing that the document's principles evolve to address modern realities while rooted in historical context, rather than being confined to the framers' precise expectations. He contends that this approach avoids the "absurdity" of applying 18th-century understandings to 21st-century issues, as seen in critiques of 's selective use of history to justify outcomes like expanded executive power or restricted regulatory authority. Waldman argues functions more as a conservative ideological project than a , with justices adopting it to align rulings with policy preferences rather than deriving from textual fidelity. In discussions of Article V, Waldman emphasizes the amendment process as the people's mechanism for authoring constitutional change, evidenced by 27 amendments since that have fundamentally altered the original framework—such as incorporating the Bill of Rights in 1791 and the (13th through 15th) ratified between 1865 and 1870 to abolish and extend rights. He views the high thresholds for amendments—requiring two-thirds congressional approval or a convention called by two-thirds of states, followed by three-fourths —as intentional safeguards preserving the framers' design for endurance against transient majorities, thereby necessitating interpretive adaptation over frequent revisions. This stance critiques proposals for easier amendments or conventions under Article V, which he sees as risking destabilization without broad consensus, prioritizing empirical historical patterns of rare, consensus-driven change. Waldman's analysis of and , detailed in The Framers' Coup: 1787 and the Making of the United States Constitution (published 2016), draws on convention debates and Federalist Papers to depict these as pragmatic inventions rather than abstract ideals. On , he describes the framers' compromise as dividing between national and state levels to resolve the Articles of Confederation's paralysis—granting enumerated powers like taxation and commerce regulation while reserving others to states—without endorsing absolute state supremacy, as evidenced by the Supremacy Clause's establishment of precedence. For , Waldman highlights the framers' allocation of legislative, executive, and judicial functions with mutual checks, such as vetoes and appointments, as a response to monarchical fears and state-level excesses, supported by showing deliberate blurring of lines (e.g., executive powers) to ensure functionality over rigid division. He uses these historical mechanics to advocate empirical fidelity to structural intent, cautioning against interpretations that undermine balances through unchecked judicial expansion.

Voting Rights, Election Administration, and Claims of Nonpartisan Analysis

Under Waldman's leadership at the , the has produced reports advocating against strict voter identification requirements and automatic voter roll purges, arguing that such measures disproportionately burden eligible voters while addressing negligible risks of in-person impersonation . A 2007 of elections in 23 states from 1982 to 2006 estimated the incidence of voter impersonation at between 0.0003% and 0.0025% of ballots cast, rates deemed too low to justify barriers like photo ID mandates that could disenfranchise millions lacking required documents. These pre-2020 studies emphasized empirical from state audits and , prioritizing access expansion over administrative safeguards that might slow turnout, though critics contend such low historical rates do not account for scalable risks in modern expanded mail-in or same-day registration systems without robust verification. Following the 2020 election, Waldman and the Brennan Center shifted focus to countering narratives of widespread or , framing post-election challenges as threats to processes rather than responses to verifiable irregularities. In reports and policy papers, they urged states to fortify against " " by enhancing protections for officials and voters from , while dismissing claims as unfounded despite documented instances of irregularities in battleground states, such as unmonitored drop boxes or signature mismatches in over 200,000 ballots. Waldman testified before in 2024, citing administrator surveys showing no systemic noncitizen voting in , to argue against federal interventions tightening eligibility proofs. In public lectures, Waldman highlighted historical tactics of voter suppression—from Jim Crow-era poll taxes to modern restrictions—as parallels to contemporary reforms, urging renewed federal oversight like strengthening the Voting Rights Act to preempt disparate impacts on minority turnout. At on October 9, , he discussed preventing subversion through state-level safeguards, drawing on 19th-century precedents of partisan interference to advocate for nonpartisan administration insulated from political pressure. A podcast appearance further analyzed suppression's lasting effects, citing research that disenfranchised voters in one cycle often abstain long-term, without addressing causal links between lax administration and potential fraud amplification in high-volume voting. The Brennan Center, under Waldman, asserts its election analyses are nonpartisan, evidenced by collaborations yielding bipartisan outcomes in adjacent policy areas like , where it supported measures reducing federal sentencing disparities and promoting alternatives to incarceration—efforts echoed in the 2018 , which garnered cross-party votes. Such work involved partnering with conservative reformers on data-driven reductions, contrasting with voting rights outputs that uniformly oppose integrity measures favored by Republican-led states post-2020. This framing of rigor relies on empirical baselines from self-reported official data, though the Center's funding from progressive philanthropies raises questions about selective emphasis on access over verifiable risks in unsecured systems.

Supreme Court Dynamics and Judicial Reform Proposals

In his 2023 book The Supermajority: How the Supreme Court Divided America, Michael Waldman analyzed the 2021–2022 term as marking a significant conservative shift, solidified by the 6–3 majority following the 2018 confirmation of Justice and prior appointments by President in 2017 and 2018. Waldman contended that this "supermajority" enabled rulings that overreached into policy domains traditionally left to legislatures and agencies, including Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization (June 24, 2022), which overturned and eliminated the federal constitutional right to abortion, and New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen (June 23, 2022), which struck down certain public carry restrictions on firearms by mandating historical analogues from 1791 or 1868. He criticized the Court's reliance on a selective form of in these cases, arguing it detached from evolving democratic norms and , potentially eroding institutional legitimacy amid historical precedents of backlash against perceived overreach, such as the post-1937 response to the Court's invalidation of measures. Waldman has advocated structural reforms to address what he views as imbalances in the Court's composition and conduct, drawing on historical episodes like Congress's expansions of the Court in and 1866 during wartime exigencies to justify non-packing alternatives. He supports 18-year non-renewable term limits for justices, with staggered appointments every two years to regularize the process and prevent strategic vacancies, a proposal echoed in President Joe Biden's July 29, 2024, announcement and legislation like the Supreme Court Biennial Appointments and Term Limits Act introduced in October 2023. Additionally, Waldman endorses a binding code enforceable by an independent body, citing revelations of undisclosed gifts and trips involving justices as evidence of self-regulation failures that undermine , while cautioning against measures resembling Franklin D. Roosevelt's failed 1937 court-packing plan. In 2024 commentaries, Waldman critiqued the Court's July 1 ruling in Trump v. United States, which granted former presidents absolute immunity for core constitutional acts and presumptive immunity for official acts, as conferring monarchical powers that weaken accountability and democratic checks without sufficient historical or textual grounding. He argued this decision, alongside prior rulings curtailing Voting Rights Act enforcement like Shelby County v. Holder (2013), could exacerbate divisions in election-related jurisprudence by prioritizing executive insulation over empirical safeguards against abuse. These views align with Waldman's broader assessment that the supermajority's accelerated doctrinal shifts risk provoking congressional responses, though empirical data on public approval of specific reforms remains mixed, with polls showing majority support for term limits but partisan divides on implementation.

Criticisms, Controversies, and Counterarguments

Challenges to the Brennan Center's Objectivity and Funding Influences

The Brennan Center for Justice has received substantial funding from progressive philanthropies, including over $7.4 million from the Open Society Foundations—established by George Soros—between 2000 and 2010 for various initiatives, alongside additional grants from entities like the Tides Foundation ($2.75 million from 2002 to 2011), the Ford Foundation ($3.8 million in 2018), and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation (over $2.7 million since 2012). These sources, which align with left-leaning policy priorities such as criminal justice reform and voting access expansion, have prompted critics to challenge the organization's self-description as nonpartisan, arguing that donor influences contribute to a selective focus on issues favoring Democratic interests over balanced empirical scrutiny. Despite occasional bipartisan efforts, such as the 's July 2025 report on state-level measures post-2024, which incorporated input from officials across parties to recommend resiliency investments amid threats like bomb hoaxes, the predominance of ideologically aligned funding has fueled perceptions of inherent bias in research outputs. For instance, the 's consistent opposition to stringent voter ID laws—framed as disproportionately burdensome without commensurate benefits given purported rarity—contrasts with the Heritage Foundation's database, which as of 2025 catalogs over 1,500 proven cases nationwide since the , including instances of impersonation and misuse that photo ID requirements could mitigate. The Brennan Center has countered that the database exaggerates threats by lacking on scale relative to total votes cast, yet this interpretive divergence underscores critiques that the Center prioritizes access expansions while underweighting documented risks substantiated by prosecuted cases. Critics from conservative policy circles have further highlighted the Center's handling of 2020 analyses, accusing it of downplaying procedural anomalies uncovered in state audits—such as Arizona's Maricopa County , which identified discrepancies including unaccounted ballots, verification shortfalls, and router deletions—while emphasizing unsubstantiated suppression claims over potential gaps. characterized these audits as partisan and unreliable, aligning with broader narratives dismissing concerns despite empirical findings of chain-of-custody lapses and over 200,000 ballots requiring further scrutiny in Georgia's parallel examination, thereby raising questions about selective application of "nonpartisan" rigor in evaluating causal vulnerabilities in administration.

Debates Over Second Amendment Scholarship and Historical Methodology

In his 2014 book The Second Amendment: A Biography, Michael Waldman contended that the Second Amendment was originally understood as protecting a right tied to organized service rather than an right to possess arms for private , asserting that notions of an right emerged primarily in the mid-20th century through efforts. Waldman traced this interpretation through historical developments, including early court rulings and state constitutions, arguing that the prefatory clause referencing a "well regulated " limited the operative clause to communal security purposes. Academic critiques of Waldman's scholarship have highlighted methodological shortcomings, including selective quotation of Founding-era figures and omission of contemporaneous sources emphasizing individual . For instance, William Blackstone's Commentaries on the Laws of (1765–1769), widely influential among the Framers, described the right to arms as an "auxiliary" to personal defense "suitable to their condition and degree," framing it as a fundamental aspect of English retained by subjects against potential tyranny or personal threats. St. George Tucker's 1803 annotations to Blackstone similarly linked the —the "first law of nature"—to bearing arms, underscoring an individual dimension predating the Amendment's ratification in 1791. Critics argue Waldman's narrative downplays such evidence, prioritizing militia-focused texts while underweighting broader common-law traditions of personal armament. These debates intensified following (2008), where the Supreme Court affirmed an individual right unconnected to service, rooted in historical analysis of as the Amendment's "core" purpose, and New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen (2022), which mandated consistency with founding-era traditions for modern regulations. Empirical studies on defensive gun uses further challenge a strictly collective interpretation by demonstrating the frequency of individual applications; a 1995 national survey estimated 2.1 to 2.5 million such incidents annually in the United States, far exceeding criminal misuse rates and aligning with historical rationales for personal armament. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention surveys from 1996–1998 corroborated elevated defensive use figures, suggesting practical utility that a militia-only framework overlooks. Such data, while post-dating the founding, inform causal assessments of the right's evolution, privileging evidence of over institutional decay.

Disputes on Campaign Finance, Voter Fraud Risks, and Empirical Evidence Gaps

Waldman has consistently criticized the Supreme Court's 2010 ruling for enabling unlimited independent expenditures by corporations and unions, advocating for mandatory disclosure of donors to mitigate perceived corruption risks without restricting speech. He argued in 2010 that the decision shifted power toward "special interests," urging legislative reforms like the DISCLOSE Act to reveal funding sources. In 2025 commentary on the 2024 elections, Waldman emphasized the distorting effects of billionaire donors, such as those backing cabinet picks and policy shifts, framing undisclosed spending as a threat to accountability. Critics from conservative perspectives contend that Waldman's focus selectively targets conservative-leaning expenditures while underemphasizing dark money from progressive political action committees, which reportedly outspent Republican counterparts by a 2-to-1 margin in the federal cycle, totaling $1.9 billion overall in nondisclosed funds. This asymmetry, they argue, reflects institutional biases in organizations like the Brennan Center, which receive funding from left-leaning philanthropies and prioritize narratives of right-wing influence over balanced scrutiny of all super PAC flows. Such critiques highlight causal gaps: while disclosure addresses transparency, it does not curb the volume of anonymous spending, and empirical data on links remain correlative rather than demonstrably causal, with no peer-reviewed studies conclusively tying Citizens United to policy outcomes favoring donors over . Regarding voter fraud risks, Waldman has dismissed widespread claims as unfounded, citing Brennan Center analyses that noncitizen voting and other irregularities occur at rates below 0.0001% in audited jurisdictions, positioning safeguards like ID requirements as disproportionate to the threat. He testified in 2024 that officials reported negligible fraud in 2016 and subsequent cycles, advocating expansions in mail-in and to enhance access without commensurate fraud-minimization protocols. Right-leaning empirical pushback identifies data gaps in this assessment, noting state audits from to —such as California's 2022 review documenting anomalies and potential noncitizen registrations, or Georgia's investigations into irregularities—that revealed procedural lapses and isolated instances totaling thousands of questionable votes, though not outcome-altering in aggregate. Critics argue these findings, often from bipartisan or court-ordered processes, indicate underreporting due to and decentralized verification, contrasting Brennan's reliance on self-reported official data prone to minimization amid institutional pressures. Causally, expansions in unverified voting methods risk diluting legitimate ballots through error or opportunism, as first-principles verification (e.g., chain-of-custody audits) lags behind access gains; verifiable suppression claims, meanwhile, frequently involve reversible barriers like incomplete registrations rather than systemic exclusion, with turnout data showing record participation post- reforms. This debate underscores tensions between empirical rarity of proven and precautionary realism against scalable vulnerabilities in high-stakes, low-margin elections.

Public Engagement and Media Presence

Appearances, Debates, and Recent Commentary

Waldman testified before congressional committees on multiple occasions, including a March 24, 2021, Senate Rules Committee hearing on the For the People Act, addressing , voting rights, and ethics reforms. He appeared on NPR's on June 6, 2023, critiquing the Supreme Court's conservative supermajority for widening the divide between public opinion and judicial rulings on issues such as abortion restrictions and gun rights expansions. In October 2024, Waldman delivered the Manatt-Phelps Lecture in at on October 9, outlining state-level strategies to avert election subversion amid concerns over the 2024 presidential contest, including safeguards against interference in and processes. Waldman featured on the Future Hindsight podcast's December 5, 2024, episode "We Voted… Now What?," attributing 2024 election outcomes to historical patterns in voter participation and demographic shifts rather than isolated causal factors like policy dissatisfaction alone. On October 9, 2025, he engaged in a question-and-answer session with National Press Foundation journalism fellows, warning that genuine authoritarian risks emerge when public fear suppresses open discourse, drawing parallels to recent political pressures on media and institutions. Waldman participated in the 2017 Intelligence Squared U.S. debate "Give Trump a Chance," opposing the motion by highlighting early executive actions that strained constitutional norms on immigration and judicial independence.

Personal Life and Legacy

Family and Personal Details

Michael Waldman resides in Brooklyn, New York, with his wife, Elizabeth Fine, who serves as general counsel for the New York State Empire State Development Corporation. He and Fine have three children. This New York residence aligns with his long-standing professional affiliation with New York University School of Law, where the Brennan Center for Justice is based. No public records indicate significant health issues or relocations affecting his personal life.

Broader Impact and Ongoing Influence

Waldman's tenure at the Brennan Center has contributed to shaping policy debates on election administration, with the organization's analyses cited in over a dozen congressional hearings since 2019, particularly those advancing Democratic priorities like the For the People Act of 2021, which sought to standardize voting procedures and limit partisan . These efforts influenced legislative language on issues such as automatic and expansion, though empirical outcomes remain limited, as federal reforms like the Voting Rights Advancement Act failed to pass amid rules and Republican opposition, resulting in no nationwide changes by 2025. Critics argue that this focus has reinforced echo-chamber dynamics in elite media and academic circles, where Brennan Center reports are disproportionately amplified in left-leaning outlets while downplaying data on localized irregularities, such as the 0.0001% noncitizen voting incidence rate debated in hearings but often framed as negligible without broader contextual fraud risks. The center's funding from progressive donors and left-center rating have fueled claims of selective , potentially hindering cross-partisan reforms like the stalled , which has secured electoral votes from states totaling 209 as of 2025 but lacks sufficient adoption for activation due to partisan divides. In the post-2024 landscape under a second Trump administration, Waldman's influence persists through Brennan Center-led challenges to executive actions on oversight, including litigation tracking over 50 shadow docket cases by October 2025 and critiques of policies like the SAVE Act's proof-of-citizenship mandates. This positions the organization to sustain advocacy against perceived federal overreach in state-run elections, though success hinges on , as evidenced by mixed rulings on Trump-era precedents, balancing Waldman's legacy of institutional mobilization against risks of further polarizing discourse.

References

  1. https://www.brennancenter.org/about/leadership/michael-waldman
  2. https://www.law.nyu.edu/alumni/almo/pastalmos/2013-14almos/michaelwaldmanjuly
  3. https://www.simonandschuster.com/authors/Michael-Waldman/1768389
  4. https://www.carnegiecouncil.org/media/podcast/20190305-challenges-to-democracy-michael-waldman
  5. https://spectatorarchive.library.columbia.edu/?a=d&d=cs19961030-02.2.8
  6. https://bigthink.com/people/michaelwaldman/
  7. https://clintonwhitehouse6.archives.gov/1995/12/1995-12-22-waldman-named-director-of-speech-writing.html
  8. https://clinton.presidentiallibraries.us/collections/show/88
  9. https://clintonwhitehouse6.archives.gov/1997/07/1997-07-01-president-promotes-michael-waldman.html
  10. https://clinton.presidentiallibraries.us/solr-search?q=%2522welfare%2Breform%2522
  11. https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/remarks-signing-the-personal-responsibility-and-work-opportunity-reconciliation-act-1996
  12. https://shorensteincenter.org/person/michael-waldman/
  13. https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/clinton/interviews/waldman.html
  14. https://www.law.nyu.edu/alumni/almo/pastalmos/20062007almos/michaelwaldmanmay
  15. https://www.law.nyu.edu/news/Brennan-Center-for-Justice-public-policy-advocacy-voting-rights-campaign-finance-criminal-justice-reform
  16. https://www.brennancenter.org/media/13943/download/2024_annual-report_pages_digital.pdf
  17. https://www.brennancenter.org/sites/default/files/2019-08/Report_Redistricting_Congressional_Control.pdf
  18. https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/prison-gerrymandering-undermines-our-democracy
  19. https://ballotpedia.org/Brennan_Center_for_Justice
  20. https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/policy-solutions/state-agenda-election-security-and-resiliency
  21. https://www.amazon.com/Second-Amendment-Biography-Michael-Waldman/dp/147674744X
  22. https://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/imh/article/download/24232/29866/56397
  23. https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/regressive-supreme-court-turns-activist
  24. https://www.npr.org/2023/06/06/1180389289/supreme-court-supermajority-michael-waldman-abortion-guns
  25. https://www.washingtonindependentreviewofbooks.com/bookreview/the-supermajority-how-the-supreme-court-divided-america
  26. https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/trump-threatens-elections
  27. https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/trump-election-takeover
  28. https://www.commondreams.org/author/michael-waldman
  29. https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/michael-waldman-birth-democracy-movement
  30. https://iowastatedaily.com/301320/news/michael-waldman-stresses-the-importance-of-protecting-democracy-in-the-2024-election/
  31. https://events.las.iastate.edu/events/how-states-can-prevent-election-subversion-in-2024-and-beyond-2/
  32. https://www.congress.gov/116/meeting/house/111031/witnesses/HHRG-116-JU10-Wstate-WaldmanM-20200924.pdf
  33. https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/moneys-control-over-politics-has-never-been-greater
  34. https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/new-study-shows-runaway-influence-dark-money-politics
  35. https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/originalism-run-amok-supreme-court
  36. https://www.theusconstitution.org/news/remember-the-whole-constitution/
  37. https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/opposing-originalism
  38. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/12/01/originalism-liberal-lawyers-supreme-court-trap/
  39. https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/peoples-constitution
  40. https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/symposium-constitutional-amendments
  41. https://www.brennancenter.org/sites/default/files/analysis/Briefing_Memo_Debunking_Voter_Fraud_Myth.pdf
  42. https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/research-voter-id
  43. https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/legal-protections-election-subversion-and-voter-suppression
  44. https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/how-protect-2024-election
  45. https://www.congress.gov/118/meeting/house/117312/witnesses/HHRG-118-HA00-Wstate-WaldmanM-20240516-SD001.pdf
  46. https://www.futurehindsight.com/episodes/we-voted-now-what-michael-waldman
  47. https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/lasting-effects-voter-suppression
  48. https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/policy-solutions/federal-agenda-promote-safety-and-justice
  49. https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/myths-and-realities-prosecutors-and-criminal-justice-reform
  50. https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/2023-criminal-justice-reform-new-york-state
  51. https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Supermajority/Michael-Waldman/9781668006078
  52. https://www.brennancenter.org/supermajority-how-supreme-court-divided-america
  53. https://cafe.com/stay-tuned/trumps-2nd-rodeo-scotus-overreaches/
  54. https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/term-limits-and-binding-ethics-code-can-save-supreme-court-itself
  55. https://www.npr.org/2024/07/30/nx-s1-5055796/president-biden-calls-for-term-limits-and-ethics-reforms-for-supreme-court-justices
  56. https://www.brennancenter.org/term-limits
  57. https://www.nyu.edu/community/government-affairs/study-of-congress/news-and-events/supreme-court--ready-for-reform-.html
  58. https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/supreme-court-gives-president-power-king
  59. https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/supreme-courts-presidential-immunity-ruling-undermines-democracy
  60. https://www.politico.com/news/2024/04/27/supreme-court-trump-immunity-00154744
  61. https://news.berkeley.edu/2024/07/12/berkeley-talks-how-the-supreme-court-divided-america/
  62. https://crooked.com/podcast/can-these-courts-be-reformed/
  63. https://www.influencewatch.org/non-profit/william-j-brennan-center-for-justice/
  64. https://nationalcenter.org/ncppr/2012/07/26/report-exposes-brennan-center-for-justices-biased-reporting-and-liberal-funding/
  65. https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/brennan-center-for-justice/
  66. https://www.brennancenter.org/issues/ensure-every-american-can-vote/vote-suppression/voter-id
  67. https://electionfraud.heritage.org/
  68. https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/heritage-fraud-database-assessment
  69. https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/partisan-arizona-election-audit-was-flawed-start
  70. https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/phony-audits-real-threats-vote
  71. http://cardozolawreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/INTRO.37.2.pdf
  72. https://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/documents/amendIIs4.html
  73. https://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/documents/amendIIs7.html
  74. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1023/A:1023077303928
  75. https://www.hoplofobia.info/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/2020-CDC_Surveys_Prevalance_of_DGU.pdf
  76. https://www.congress.gov/117/meeting/house/112672/documents/HHRG-117-JU08-20210520-SD011.pdf
  77. https://www.brennancenter.org/issues/reform-money-politics/campaign-finance-courts/citizens-united
  78. https://www.law.nyu.edu/news/WALDMAN_CAMPAIGN_FINANCE
  79. https://www.campaignnow.com/blog/dems-outspent-gop-2-to-1
  80. https://www.brennancenter.org/issues/reform-money-politics/influence-big-money/dark-money
  81. https://www.brennancenter.org/issues/ensure-every-american-can-vote/vote-suppression/myth-voter-fraud
  82. https://www.brennancenter.org/media/12913/download
  83. https://www.library.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/crb-reports/CRB-Voter-Fraud-Review-2025-08-26.xlsx
  84. https://docs.house.gov/meetings/HA/HA08/20210624/112806/HHRG-117-HA08-Wstate-WaldmanM-20210624.pdf
  85. https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/voting-laws-roundup-september-2024
  86. https://www.c-span.org/video/?510197-1/senate-hearing-campaign-finance-voting-rights-ethics
  87. https://nationalpress.org/topic/michael-waldman-transcript-oct-9-2025/
  88. https://opentodebate.org/debate/give-trump-chance/
  89. https://www.college.columbia.edu/cct/issue/summer20/article/election-fraught-no-other
  90. https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/testimony-s-1-people-act-senate-committee-rules-administration
  91. https://www.allsides.com/news-source/brennan-center-justice-media-bias
  92. https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/supreme-court-shadow-docket-tracker-challenges-trump-administration
  93. https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/timeline-trump-administrations-efforts-undermine-elections
  94. https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/states-not-president-run-elections-america
Add your contribution
Related Hubs
User Avatar
No comments yet.