Maya Kornberg

Senior Research Fellow and Manager, Brennan Center for Justice, New York University

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About Maya

Kornberg is a senior research fellow and manager in the Brennan Center’s Elections and Government Program, where she leads work related to information and disinformation in politics, Congress, and money in politics. She has worked on democratic governance issues at nonprofits, international organizations, think tanks, and academic institutions. She previously held positions at the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), NYU GovLab, and Public Agenda. Kornberg has taught undergraduate and graduate political science courses at NYU, Georgetown University, and American University. Her commentary has appeared in the Washington Post, NPR, BBC, Scientific American, CSPAN, Newsweek, the Hill, and Slate, and her work has been cited in outlets including the New York Times, Bloomberg, the Saturday Evening Post, and Ms. Magazine.

Contributions | No Jargon Podcast | Member Spotlight | In the News | Publications

Contributions

Crowdlaw for Congress Strategies for 21st Century Lawmaking

Memo, October 2021

It Isn’t Just What You Say about Science; It’s Also How You Say It: Teaching Scientists to Talk to Policy Makers

Commentary, September 2021

In the News

Opinion: "Science-Poor Congress Needs More Than Google Searches for Tech Legislation," Maya Kornberg, The Hill, November 30, 2023.

Opinion: "Building Science and Technology Expertise in Congress," Maya Kornberg (with Martha Kinsella), Brennan Center for Justice, November 6, 2023.

Opinion: "Congress is Woefully Unprepared to Regulate Tech," Maya Kornberg, Slate, June 25, 2023.

Interviewed in "A Look Inside Congressional Committees," The Takeaway with Melissa Harris-Perry, WNYC Studio, February 23, 2023.

Interviewed in "After Words with Maya Kornberg," Book TV, C-SPAN, February 2, 2023.

Opinion: "Pandemic Parliaments: Lessons Learned From Two Years Trying To Run Democracies Living Under COVID-19," Maya Kornberg, The Conversation, March 18, 2022.

Opinion: "Rethinking Civic Engagement To Regain Trust," Maya Kornberg, Fulcrum, November 29, 2021.

Opinion: "It Isn’t Just What You Say about Science; It’s Also How You Say It," Maya Kornberg, Scientific American, September 17, 2021.

Opinion: "Create a Professional Advisory Council for Committees, Remove Cameras From Hearings (at Least Some of Them), Reform Committee Jurisdictions," Maya Kornberg, Reform Efforts, Legbranch.org Blog, April 17, 2019.

Opinion: "You Can Take a Congressperson Outta Washington," Maya Kornberg, Committees and Caucuses, Legbranch.org Blog.

Interviewed in "US Mid-term Elections: The Latest On The Vote Results," BBC Newsday, November 7, 2018.

Opinion: "Plenty of Congressional Hearings Are Not Circuses. Here’s How We Know.," Maya Kornberg, Monkey Cage/Analysis, The Washington Post, August 14, 2018.

Opinion: "Israel is Politically Unstable and That Threatens its National Security," Maya Kornberg, Home | Opinion, Haaretz, May 26, 2015.

Publications

Inside Congressional Committees: Function and Dysfunction in the Legislative Process (Columbia University Press, 2023).

Examines the legislative process beyond voting patterns, emphasizing the crucial role of congressional committee hearings. Evaluates how committees operate and the conditions affecting their performance, finding that committee work can be more deliberative and productive than the politics of the Congress floor.

"Global Parliamentary Report 2022", Interparlimentary Union, 2022.

Emerges as countries and communities aim to build forward better from the COVID-19 pandemic, which caused the greatest reversal in human development ever recorded. Discusses how the pandemic has compounded a range of global crises – including planet-threatening climate change and environmental degradation, deepening inequalities and poverty, and food insecurity.

"The Leadership as a Spoiler" (with Roee Kibrik ) in Spoiling and Coping with Spoilers, edited by Galia Golan and Gilead Sher, (Indiana University Press, 2019), 30-57.

Looks at the political leadership itself as a spoiler in the peace negotiations in which it takes part, and we shall focus on spoiling activity during the negotiation phase before an agreement is signed. Assumes that there is a dividing line between the leadership in negotiations and spoilers outside of it is too narrow.