A deeply troubling step backward

 

June 25, 2022

Since the Weekly Spotlight team was off last week, we wanted to take a brief moment to recognize Juneteenth, which we commemorated last weekend. It’s a day to celebrate the anniversary of the end of slavery and to reflect on the hard work our nation still needs to do to dismantle systemic racism in our country. If you’d like to learn more about Juneteenth, check out these resources from the New York Times and PBS. Onto this week, when we grappled with the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health ruling. It is a deeply troubling step backward, and it reflects larger problems with the structure of the Supreme Court. In Dobbs, we saw a slim majority use its incredible power to issue a regressive ruling overturning a 50-year precedent. It’s increasingly clear that the Supreme Court has too few justices who sit on the bench for far too long and wield far too much power. The court’s trajectory away from using its authority to serve as a check on government abuse of power is a symptom of this troubling concentration of power in just a few individuals. The ruling could also contribute to the proliferation of law enforcement use of surveillance technologies to enforce state abortion bans, which would have significant privacy implications for those administering or seeking reproductive care and beyond. Congress must act swiftly to enact legislation that significantly restricts law enforcement access to the massive amounts of data on the American public collected daily. In the coming weeks and months, the team at POGO will be working on both of these issues: reforms to the Supreme Court and policies to reign in law enforcement surveillance use. Advocacy in these areas will be key to building a democracy in which individuals feel protected by our judicial system and maintain a crucial sense of privacy. Weekend Binge All five episodes of POGO's The Continuous Action are out now. Listen to the complete series wherever you get your podcasts. RELEASE The Dobbs Ruling Reflects the Troubled State of American Democracy Today’s Supreme Court ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health is a clear step backward for our country. It’s also a symptom of a larger problem facing our democracy. Read More INVESTIGATION Sidelining Small Businesses Hundreds of millions of dollars in Defense Logistics Agency contracts may be illegally flowing to large companies instead of small businesses. Read More ANALYSIS Accountability: The Path to Improve Government Effectiveness and the Antidote to Authoritarianism Cynicism is high, and public trust in government is low. But by activating civic engagement around increased government accountability, we can help build a government that’s worthy of the public trust. Read More TESTIMONY POGO Calls for More Oversight and Accountability at the VA While progress has been made, reform at the VA’s whistleblower office is still necessary to ensure our veterans get the best care possible. Read More TESTIMONY POGO Urges Congress to Lift the Veil on Defense Ethics Records Public oversight is crucial to the success of any government ethics program, but far too many of the Pentagon’s ethics records are not reasonably available to the public. Read More LETTER Office of Government Ethics Proposes Ethics Rule With a Moon-Sized Loophole America deserves better than optional government ethics, but the top ethics office has proposed to let officials ignore a rule clamping down on large gifts of cash to cover their legal expenses. Read More LETTER Improving Transparency and Accountability at the Office of Legal Counsel The Office of Legal Counsel may be impeding the January 6 investigation. Read More LETTER Electoral Count Act Must Prevent State and Federal Officials from Overturning Will of Voters POGO asks senators to prevent election subversion, and to authorize courts to protect the will of the voters. Read More QUOTE OF THE WEEK “This $45 billion increase isn’t about national security or the American people. ... It’s about funneling money into the military-industrial complex.” Julia Gledhill, Analyst at the Center for Defense Information, in Common Dreams OVERHEARD ONE LINERS “Questionable at least is what we can say around academic institutions and the relationships they have with foreign entities, including foreign entities that are potentially at cross-purpose with U.S. national interests.” Dylan Hedtler-Gaudette, Government Affairs Manager, in Inside Higher Ed   “You know, the longer it went on, the more people got involved in it and the more normalized that behavior became. And so we ended up with the massive scandal that we have.” Dan Grazier, Senior Defense Policy Fellow, on NPR   “Creating meaningful accountability processes for wrongdoing at DHS is an important step forward to addressing their culture of impunity.” Sarah Turberville, Director of The Constitution Project, in Government Executive   “In any one official’s case, there might be an explanation. But it’s hard to believe there is an explanation for all [77] of them.” Walt Shaub, Senior Ethics Fellow, in Forbes   “Like many past administrations, this one is all too comfortable inviting influence peddlers through the revolving door, and in Dunn’s case that door is locked in a high-speed spin cycle.” Walt Shaub, Senior Ethics Fellow, in FOX News   “Face recognition can turn body cams from a tool of accountability into one of constant surveillance, watching and cataloguing faces and tracking the location of anyone in view. This legislation is vital to prevent us from traveling down a very dystopian road and we applaud Rep. Beyer for his leadership on this critical civil liberties issue.” Sarah Turberville, Director of The Constitution Project, in Augusta Free Press

pogo.org The Project On Government Oversight (POGO) is a nonpartisan independent watchdog that investigates and exposes waste, corruption, abuse of power, and when the government fails to serve the public or silences those who report wrongdoing. We champion reforms to achieve a more effective, ethical, and accountable federal government that safeguards constitutional principles.

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