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Civics
Course shows students how Washington really works
Penn and George Mason University students traveled to Washington, D.C. every Friday this spring for a class that gives the inside scoop on policymaking inside the Beltway.
Empowering refugees through education
The student-led group Penn for Refugee Empowerment offers tutoring and helps refugee-resettlement organizations with after-school programming, child care, home setup, and event assistance.
Public media can improve our ‘flawed’ democracy
A new study finds that countries with well-funded public media have healthier democracies, and explains why investment in U.S. public media is an investment in the future of journalism and democracy alike.
The Black Lives Matter movement, but not COVID encouraged voters toward Biden
As swing voters registered more awareness about discrimination against Black Americans, they became more likely to vote for the party they felt would best rectify that—Democrats.
Penn Law reacts to the nomination of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson
President Joe Biden has selected the Honorable Ketanji Brown Jackson of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit as his nominee to the Supreme Court.
Former Justice Breyer law clerks share perspectives on his retirement
Statements from Ted Ruger, University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School Dean and Bernard G. Segal Professor of Law, and Jacques deLisle, Stephen A. Cozen Professor of Law & Professor of Political Science.
2020 voting report: By the numbers
Penn students voted in unprecedented numbers during the 2020 presidential election, in part due to the voter-engagement program Penn Leads the Vote, which recently won the 2021 ALL IN Democracy Challenge Best Action Plan Award.
President Gutmann votes at Houston Hall
Exercising her civic duty, Penn’s leader participated in Pennsylvania’s 2021 general election.
1 in 3 Americans say they might consider abolishing or limiting Supreme Court
A new survey from the Annenberg Public Policy Center finds that more than a third of Americans say they might be willing to abolish the Supreme Court or have Congress limit its jurisdiction.
Americans’ civics knowledge increases during a stress-filled year
The Annenberg Public Policy Center’s annual survey follows increased media coverage of the powers, functions, and prerogatives of the three branches in a year marked by impeachment proceedings and a pandemic.
In the News
Tyrants get bad information—so do non-tyrants
PIK Professor Jonathan D. Moreno and Stephen N. Xenakis, a member of the executive board of The Center for Ethics & the Rule of Law, pen an op-ed arguing that there is no validity to those who claim the superiority of democratic institutions in collecting and using military intelligence. “In any setting, sound decision-making requires that leaders rely on the best possible inputs for information, situational awareness, and military intelligence,” they write.
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