Here is what happened last week for DAGA and our Democratic Attorneys General:

SCOTUS UPDATE: SAVE THE CENSUS

“Today’s ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court is a resounding affirmation that Democratic AGs are the pillars of our democracy.”— Sean Rankin, DAGA Executive Director

On Thursday, the Supreme Court sided with the Democratic AG coalition and rejected the Trump administration’s efforts to add a discriminatory Citizenship Question to the upcoming 2020 Census for now. Led by New York AG Tish James, 19 Democratic AGs were part of the multi-state coalition that fought all the way to the Supreme Court to challenge this discriminatory action by the Trump Administration to add a new requirement for all individuals to list their citizenship status on the 2020 Census.  This intimidation tactic could have led to an under count of the real number of people living in the U.S. and could have resulted in far-reaching effects that hurt representation, critical funding for individual states, and data used by public and private companies for key decision-making.  You can read DAGA’s full statement here!

AG IDEAS IN ASPEN

Oregon AG Ellen Rosenblum and Colorado AG Phil Weiser spoke with NPR’s Joshua Johnson at the Aspen Ideas Festival on a panel titled, “The New Power Players: State Activism and the Rebirth of Federalism.” The panel focused on the role of state Attorneys General in our currently political environment and how they are leading the charge and teaming up to address some of our country’s most challenging issues. ICYMI: Catch the full Aspen Ideas panel here!

SOUND ON
This week, Democratic Attorneys General Association Executive Director Sean Rankin joined Kevin Cirilli on Bloomberg Radio’s “Sound On” for a discussion about the news of the day: SCOTUS and the 2020 Census, the first round of Democratic Debates, and how Democratic AGs are making a difference.  Take a listen here!

AG ROSENBLUM LEADS ON HATE CRIMES
Thanks to the Hate Crimes Task Force led by DAGA Co-Chair Oregon AG Ellen Rosenblum, legislation is headed to Oregon Gov. Kate Brown – which she is expected to sign soon.  After the Oregon Senate unanimously passed the legislation, sending it to the Governor, AG Rosenblum said, “This bill is the culmination of a significant community effort to provide law enforcement with an updated law that gives the new tools to investigate, enforce, and combat bias crime and bias incidents in Oregon.” Learn more about the new Hate Crime law here.

T(OP-ED): CRIMINAL JUSTICE REFORM IN VERMONT
Vermont AG TJ Donovan shared his priorities on criminal justice reform in an op-ed this week in the OUTLET highlighting that “one of [his] top priorities as attorney general has been to build a criminal justice system that keeps communities safe and reflects Vermont’s values.” AG Donavan continued by writing, “I look forward to next year’s session as well, when I plan to work toward a relief from abuse order system that better protects victims from gun-related violence and coercion, make sure people have the opportunity to drive legally and fully insured, and work toward better housing options for low-income Vermonters.” Read the full piece here!

DELAWARE SENTENCING PROGRESS
Delaware Gov. John Carney signed into law legislation that would give state judges more discretion in sentencing. According to the Washington Post, this proposal is the “first of several criminal justice reform measures to be enacted into law after being proposed earlier this year by Democratic lawmakers and [Delaware AG] Kathleen Jennings.” Earlier this year, AG Jennings released a criminal justice reform memo, which was dubbed “six pages of brilliance” by The Intercept’s Sean King. Check out the Washington Post article here for more on the new sentencing rules passed in Delaware!

MARK YOUR CALENDAR
DAGA & Democratic AGs will be at this year’s Netroots Nation conference in Philadelphia discussing what it means to be (AG)gressive in the fight to protect our democracy. Learn more here

CELEB (AG) SIGHTING: DEM DEBATES
Spotted: Nevada AG Aaron Ford attended the first night of the first Democratic Debates in Miami as a guest of 2020 presidential candidate New Jersey Senator Cory Booker!