A nonpartisan task force of eight former government officials from both Republican and Democratic administrations released a report today examining two critical functions of the federal government that have been hobbled by abuses in the executive branch: objective scientific research, and the appointments process used to fill senior administration positions.
The National Task Force on Rule of Law & Democracy, led by former U.S. attorney Preet Bharara and former New Jersey governor and EPA administrator Christine Todd Whitman, proposes legislative reforms to reinforce the norms and unwritten rules that once ensured that these government functions were carried out without excessive politicization. The task force is a project of the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU Law.