Equity & Justice
The Public Leadership Institute is a nonprofit, nonpartisan policy and leadership center organized to explore and raise public awareness about key public policy issues of equity and justice and to develop public leaders who will improve the economic and social conditions of all Americans.
IdeaLog
Will SCOTUS uphold the rule of law?
Posted on May 13, 2025
Right now, the federal judicial system is keeping our government from sliding into a dictatorship, but just barely. With six aggressively right-wing Justices, the Supreme Court will side with Trump as much as it...
Read MoreA blitzkrieg of lawlessness
Posted on May 1, 2025
We are missing the forest for the trees. Nearly everything Trump and his administration have done is illegal, and that is the whole point. It is an all-out attack on the rule of law...
Read MorePush back on the media’s normalizing of Trump
Posted on April 16, 2025
The media has been normalizing Trump for the past decade. They do this, in part, by inventing semi-rational policy explanations for irrational proposals. We should push back. Here are three examples: Tariffs and other...
Read MorePLI Bulletin
Open Meetings, Congestion Pricing, Speed Limiters and More
Posted on May 13, 2025
Open Meetings Act: Livestreaming has become cheap and technologically easy so there’s no reason why public meetings shouldn’t be livestreamed. The Open Meetings Act requires government boards and commissions to make their meetings open...
Read MoreFull Disclosure, Fighting Back, Lawlessness and More
Posted on May 1, 2025
Full Disclosure Act: America has a long history of cynicism about politics and politicians. It is essential to ensure not only that public officials are ethical, but that there is no appearance of impropriety....
Read MoreClimate Laws, Drug Affordability, War Room and More
Posted on April 16, 2025
Prescription Drug Affordability Act: Maryland recently strengthened and broadened its landmark drug pricing law. The Prescription Drug Affordability Act, based on the Maryland model, establishes a Prescription Drug Affordability Board to review and establish...
Read MoreIn the News
PLI President Gloria Totten in the New York Times
Posted on December 1, 2021
Where the Pro-Choice Movement Went Wrong, New York Times, December 1 …Having lost at the Supreme Court, anti-abortion organizations set out to restrict abortion in cities and states. By the late 1970s, the leading...
Read MoreThe Lily features the Playbook for Abortion Rights
Posted on October 21, 2021
The Lily, published by The Washington Post, ran a story headlined “Lawmakers are racing to mimic the Texas abortion law in their own states” which includes PLI’s Playbook for Abortion Rights. That section of...
Read MoreNew York enacts a PLI model
Posted on October 13, 2021
New York Governor Kathy Hochul recently signed legislation (S.343-A/A.3412-A) classifying certain threats to report a person’s immigration status as extortion or coercion under New York law. As acknowledged in the Governor’s statement about the...
Read More