“Rand Paul Stands Out in Courting Black Voters”
NYT reports. … Continue reading
Category Archives: Voting Rights Act
Senator Rand Paul Says He Wants to Restore a Federal Role Under the Voting Rights Act….
if that’s true, then why is he not a co-sponsor of the #VRAA or offering his own legislation? … Continue reading
“What’s wrong with Palmdale: an unfair election system”
LAT editorial [corrected]. … Continue reading
“Race and Voting Rights”
Ryan Haygood NYT Letter to the Editor. … Continue reading
“Will donors punish GOP outliers on election law?”
Targeting the few Republican congressional supporters of the Voting Rights Amendments Act. … Continue reading
“Could southern black voters save the Senate for Democrats?”
Greg Sargent ponders. … Continue reading
Read Bill Galston Recommend to Pres. Clinton Withdrawal of Lani Guinier Nomination Based on Guinier’s VRA Views
From a newly released set of documents today from the Clinton library I have spent much of the past week carefully reading Lani Guinier’s recent law review articles and other pertinent materials. On this basis, I have reached a difficult … Continue reading
“Voter ID’s last stand: let’s finally declare laws what they are – racist on purpose”
Ana Marie Cox Guardian column. … Continue reading
“Obama admin to join voting rights cases in Ohio and Wisconsin”
MSNBC: “It’s not clear from Holder’s comments whether the Justice Department intends simply to file amicus briefs in support of the laws’ challengers, or whether it plans to intervene as a new plaintiff—and assign government lawyers to the cases—as it did … Continue reading
Now Shipping: Hasen, Legislation, Statutory Interpretation, and Election Law: Examples and Explanations
[UPDATE: You can now order the book at Amazon, or electronically as a Kindle Book, or directly from the publisher.] I am happy to announce that you can now buy my new book, Legislation, Statutory Interpretation and Election Law: Examples … Continue reading
AG Holder Says DOJ Likely to File Voting Suits Against Ohio and Wisconsin
Kind of a surprise buried in this ABC News report: In addition, Holder took Republicans to task for efforts to, among other things, enact voter ID laws in some states. He called such moves “political efforts” aimed at making it … Continue reading
“Palmdale continues lonely fight against Voting Rights Act”
LA Times reports. … Continue reading
“North Carolina Will Determine the Future of the Voting Rights Act “
Ari Berman’s dispatch and analysis from this week’s preliminary injunction hearing. … Continue reading
“New N.C. voting law will hurt minority voting, witness says”
Barry Burden and Charles Stewart III on the stand. Some of the history Barry testified about I covered here. … Continue reading
Texas Largely Loses Motion to Dismiss Voter ID Claims
Thanks to a reader for pointing out last week’s district court order in the Texas voter id case. The court mostly denied Texas’s motion to dismiss, even allowing claims to go forward at this point on voter id as a … Continue reading
“Mistrust in North Carolina Over Plan to Reduce Precincts”
Important NYT report on how the end of voting rights preclearance after Shelby County has affected voting changes on the local level. … Continue reading
“North Carolina’s ‘Monster’ Voting Law Challenged in Federal Court”
Ari Berman dispatch from today’s preliminary injunction hearing in North Carolina. … Continue reading
“How has voting changed since Shelby County v. Holder?”
The Fix reports. … Continue reading
“North Carolina voting law changes fight in court”
AP report on today’s hearing on the request for a preliminary injunction as to parts of North Carolina’s controversial election law. For my broader look at some of the issues in North Carolina and related cases, see Race or Party? … Continue reading
“Hearing on N.C. voter ID law draws national attention”
The Winston-Salem Journal reports. … Continue reading
“Universalism and Civil Rights (with Notes on Voting Rights After Shelby)”
I blogged about this when it was draft, but another plug for a great one from Sam Bagenstos in the Yale Law Journal, especially relevant on the Voting Rights Amendments Act. … Continue reading
“UPDATE: Newhall School District to look at cumulative voting, even-year elections”
California Voting Rights Act continues to make waves. … Continue reading
“Why the Civil Rights Act Couldn’t Pass Today”
Todd Purdum, author of the new book, An Idea Whose Time Has Come: Two Presidents, Two Parties and the Battle for the Civil Rights Act of 1964, has written this article in Politico, which also discusses the Voting Rights Act … Continue reading
(Pipe) Dreams Dashed Dept: Thad Cochran Not Supporting Voting Rights Act Fix
Sen. Cochran’s spokesperson tells Greg Sargent: I asked Cochran spokesman Chris Gallegos for a response. He said Cochran is “listening” to the argument over the new legislation, but directed me back to his previous statement praising the SCOTUS decision. Gallegos … Continue reading
“Bob Corker On Voting Rights Act: ‘Cannot Imagine’ Congress Restoring It “
HuffPo reports. [UPDATE: Thanks to a reader for pointing out this article is one year old. Not sure why it came up on my news search. Then again, the way it reads it could have been new.] … Continue reading
“Sessions opposes update to Voting Rights Act”
Gannett: Congress does not need to update the Voting Rights Act by restoring special federal oversight of elections in a handful of states, Sen. Jeff Sessions said today. The Alabama Republican, who voted for the 2006 renewal of the Voting … Continue reading
“Judiciary Chairman In No Rush To Move On Voting Rights Act Restoration”
Kate Nocera reports for BuzzFeed. … Continue reading
“A year later, Holder, civil rights groups decry impact of voting rights ruling”
Greg Gordon reports for McClatchy. … Continue reading
“Blacks Regain Sway at Polls in Mississippi”
NYT reports. … Continue reading
“Thad Cochran’s Debt to Mississippi”
NYT editorial concludes: Last year, Mr. Cochran praised the Supreme Court decision that gutted the heart of the Voting Rights Act. He can now make it clear that bipartisanship goes both ways by crossing party lines to support a new … Continue reading
“Where are the GOP Supporters of Voting Rights?”
Read Ari Berman. Now. … Continue reading
“Murdered Voting Advocate’s Brother Wants Protections Back”
Carrie Johnson for NPR: One year ago, the Supreme Court threw out a key section of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. The law gave the federal government a kind of veto power over voting arrangements in states with a history … Continue reading
“Think we don’t need to update the Voting Rights Act? Check out yesterday’s primaries.”
Janai Nelson writes for Reuters Opinion. … Continue reading
“Lawmakers join to honor MLK Jr., but are split over voting rights bill”
The LA Times reports. … Continue reading
The VRAA and the Future of Voting Rights Enforcement
For those following today’s hearings, I have an editorial today in the National Journal. It notes the continuities between the VRAA’s enforcement strategy and that used in other regulatory arenas, something I’ve written about in the past. It also draws … Continue reading
Watch Live Senate Judiciary Hearing on Updating Voting Rights Act
Here. Background from Mary Orndorff Troyan in USA Today. … Continue reading
What’s Next for McDaniel After Apparent Loss But No Concession in #MSSEN Race? The Courts?
Tonight’s surprising win for incumbent Senator Thad Cochran over Tea Party insurgent Chris McDaniel may not be quite over. AP and others have called the race, and the current margin of victory is showing as over 6,000 votes. But McDaniel … Continue reading
“Texas Fights Million-Dollar Legal Fee Award in Voting Case”
Legal Times reports. … Continue reading
“Shelby County One Year Later: Good for Voting Rights?”
Franita Tolson: “Despite these developments, the lesson of Shelby County should not be that states have broad authority to impose restrictive voting regulations. The true lesson of the decision, one year later, is that even the most painful and costly … Continue reading
“Fifty Years After Freedom Summer, the Voting Rights Act Is Needed More Than Ever”
Ari Berman writes for The Nation. … Continue reading
Thad Cochran, Voting Rights Champion
“I think it’s important for everybody to participate. Voting rights has been an issue of great importance in Mississippi. People have really contributed a lot of energy and effort to making sure the political process is open to everyone.” —Sen. … Continue reading
Georgia Secretary of State Opposes Bill That Could Put State Back Under Federal Voting Rights Act Supervision
See here. … Continue reading
One Year After Shelby County
Here was the lede of my NY Times oped from the day after the decision, The Chief Justice’s Long Game: IN an opinion brimming with a self-confidence that he hides behind a cloak of judicial minimalism, Chief Justice John G. … Continue reading
“Cantor loss clouds prospects for new voting rights bill”
WaPo reports. … Continue reading
“We Just Don’t Need Section 5 Anymore”
Roger Clegg writes for NRO. He says sections 2 and 3 of the Voting Rights Act provide enough protection for minority voters. What Roger doesn’t tell you, but what I confirmed when we were on a panel recently at the … Continue reading
“The Right to Vote”
Via email: Today, the public radio program Humankind released its new one-hour documentary, The Right to Vote, for free download. The broadcast–distributed worldwide by NPR this month and next– can be heard at the podcast Humankind on Public Radio, or … Continue reading
Texas Swagger Costs It Attorneys Fees in Voting Rights Case
See this order in State of Texas v. Davis: This matter presents a case study in how not to respond to a motion for attorney fees and costs. At issue is whether defendant-intervenors, who prevailed in Voting Rights Act litigation … Continue reading
Quote of the Day, RGB Edition
“Like the currently leading campaign finance decision, Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, I regard Shelby County as an egregiously wrong decision that should not have staying power.” —Justice Ginsburg, speaking to the Second Circuit Judicial conference. … Continue reading
“Latinos and the VRA: A Modern Fix for Modern-Day Discrimination
New report from MALDEF and NALEO calling on Congress to adopt the VRAA. … Continue reading
“New Report: Voters in 22 States Face New Laws That Could Make Voting Harder in November”
Press release: New voting restrictions developed since 2010 are slated to be in place in 22 states this November. In 15 of these states, 2014 will be the first federal election with new restrictions in effect, according to a report released … Continue reading