Wendy R. Weiser and Daniel I. Weiner

Wendy Weiser directs the Democracy Program at the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law, a nonpartisan think tank and public interest law center that works to revitalize, reform, and defend systems of democracy and justice. Her program focuses on voting rights and elections, money in politics and ethics, redistricting and representation, government dysfunction, rule of law, and fair courts. She founded and directed the program’s Voting Rights and Elections Project, directing litigation, research, and advocacy efforts to enhance political participation and prevent voter disenfranchisement across the country. She has authored a number of nationally recognized publications and articles on voting rights and election reform, litigated groundbreaking lawsuits on democracy issues, testified before both houses of Congress and in a variety of state legislatures, and provided legislative and policy drafting assistance to federal and state legislators and administrators across the country. She is a frequent public speaker and media commentator on democracy issues. She has appeared on CBS News, CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, PBS, ABC News, and NPR, among others; her commentary has been published in the New York Times, the Washington Post, USA Today, and elsewhere; and she is frequently quoted by the New York Times, the Washington Post, National Journal, Politico, and other news outlets across the country. She has also served as an adjunct professor at NYU School of Law. Prior to joining the Brennan Center, Weiser was a senior attorney at NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund, where she worked on issues of access to the courts and domestic violence; a litigation associate at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison; and a law clerk to Judge Eugene H. Nickerson in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York. She received her BA from Yale College and her JD from Yale Law School. Daniel I. Weiner serves as deputy director of the Brennan Center’s Election Reform Program, where he helps to lead the Center’s work on money in politics, government ethics, election security, and other democracy issues. He is the author or co-author of several nationally-recognized reports, and also writes and comments regularly on election law and democracy issues for media outlets such as the New York Times, Washington Post, Slate, MSNBC, and NPR. He has provided policy advice and drafting assistance to lawmakers in Washington and across the country, and delivered testimony and briefings to Congress, state legislatures, and federal and state agencies. Outside of his work at the Brennan Center, Weiner helps to adjudicate attorney discipline case for the District of Columbia Board on Professional Responsibility as chair of a Board hearing committee. Weiner previously served as senior counsel to Commissioner Ellen L. Weintraub at the Federal Election Commission, including during her term as chair of the Commission in 2013. In this role, Weiner assisted with managing the agency and advised the commissioner on a broad array of issues under the First Amendment, federal campaign finance law, and the Administrative Procedure Act. Before his service at the FEC, Weiner practiced law in the Washington, DC, office of Jenner & Block, LLP. At Jenner, Weiner litigated cases at the trial and appellate levels, counseled a wide variety of clients, and maintained an active pro bono practice focused particularly on LGBTQ rights. Weiner received his JD from Harvard Law School. He clerked for the Honorable Diana E. Murphy on the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. He graduated magna cum laude with honors from Brown University, with a degree in history.