“How Not to End Racial Discrimination; Conservatives have been making the same wrongheaded argument for more than 100 years.”
Jamelle Bouie writes for Slate. … Continue reading
Category Archives: Voting Rights Act
“Are Democrats Trying To Energize The Base With The Race Card?”
NPR: For some voters, suggestions that some of the opposition to Obama and his policies is more than just honest disagreement — and is indeed racially based — could help do the trick. The Democrats’ use of voting rights strikes … Continue reading
“Carl P. Leubsdorf commentary: Voting Rights Act will get new attention”
Column: “Voting issues will get a more extensive airing next year when the LBJ Library marks the Voting Rights Act’s 50th anniversary. But the topic has come up often this year because, unlike the 1964 Civil Rights Act that banned … Continue reading
“Justice Department, Texas Clash Over Discovery in Voting Rights Case”
Legal Times reports. … Continue reading
“John Roberts and the Color of Money; Applying the history of white supremacy in America to the Supreme Court’s McCutcheon decision “
Tom Levenson writes at The Atlantic. … Continue reading
“GOP Congressman Isn’t Sure The Civil Rights Act Is Constitutional”
TPM reports. … Continue reading
“Commentaries: The Congressional Response to Shelby County”
The Harvard Law Review Forum has posted Dismissing Deterrence The VRAA’s proposed preclearance regime would still be vulnerable to attack By Ellen D. Katz Read More Voting Rights Law and Policy in Transition Activists ought not settle for the valiant … Continue reading
Updated/Final Versions of Some of My Articles on Campaign Finance, Voting Rights
I’ve posted an updated version, including a short discussion of McCutcheon, of Super PAC Contributions, Corruption, and the Proxy War over Coordination, forthcoming in the Duke Journal of Constitutional Law & Public Policy. I have posted the final version of … Continue reading
WSJ Profiles Travis Crum and His Yale Piece on the VRA Pocket Trigger
Here. … Continue reading
“Has the Roberts court placed landmark 1964 civil rights law on a hit list?”
Extensive CNN report. … Continue reading
“How the Supreme Court Blowtorched Democracy and What You Can Do About It”
The Nation editorial. … Continue reading
Harvard Law and Policy Review Publishes Symposium Issue: Elections In America
Volume 8-1 of the HLPR. Symposium: Elections in America Foreword, Congressman John P. Sarbanes & Raymond O’Mara III Three Wrong Progressive Approaches (and One Right One) to Campaign Finance Reform, Richard L. Hasen Free at Last: Rejecting Equal Sovereignty and Restoring the … Continue reading
“Clinton: Voting limits derail civil rights”
This time it’s Bill. Here’s the video of the President talking about Shelby County. He seems to say that he wants to use social security cards as id. … Continue reading
“Formulating Voting Rights Act Remedies to Address Current Conditions”
Barry Edwards has written this article for American Politics Research. Here is the abstract: The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision to strike down a key component of the 1965 Voting Rights Act (VRA) closes one of the most successful chapters … Continue reading
“Addressing Minority Vote Dilution Through State Voting Rights Acts”
Paige Epstein has posted this draft on SSRN. Here is the abstract: Passed largely to address the problem of vote dilution and racially polarized voting, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (VRA) bans racial discrimination in voting practices by federal, … Continue reading
Two Panels on Voting Rights May 2 at LA Law Library as Part of Law Week
Looking forward to participating in this: … Continue reading
“Shelby and Section 3: Pulling the Voting Rights Act’s Pocket Trigger to Protect Voting Rights after Shelby County v. Holder”
Paul Wiley has posted this draft student note on SSRN (forthcoming, Washington and Lee Law Review). Here is the abstract: The Supreme Court’s decision in Shelby County v. Holder presents voting rights advocates with a difficult challenge: finding an effective … Continue reading
“Democrats, civil rights groups push for action on voting rights bill”
Gannett reports. … Continue reading
From the Man Who Brought You Shelby County, NAMUDNO, and Fisher…
…comes a new attack on affirmative action at universities. … Continue reading
“After Shelby County: Getting Section 2 of the VRA to Do the Work of Section 5″
Chris Elmendorf and Doug Spencer have written an important new paper that voting rights folks need to read: Until the Supreme Court put an end to it in Shelby County v. Holder, Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act was … Continue reading
Steve Hill LA Times Oped on Cumulative Voting Settlement in Santa Clarita Voting Rights Case
Here. … Continue reading
“Sensenbrenner: Protect our right to vote”
USA Today oped by Rep. Sensenbrenner: “I bristle when people on the right or left suggest there is a conflict between my support for the Voting Rights Act and voter ID laws. The former is possibly the most important civil … Continue reading
Section 2: Under Construction?
Rick linked, here, to an argument by Mr. Clegg and Mr. von Spakovsky about the proper construction of section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. The argument is predicated on the notion that it’s constitutionally questionable to construe section 2 to … Continue reading
DOJ Shifts Voting Section Priorities after Shelby County Guts Section 5
From DOJ’s budget submission to Congress (p. 44): Because of the Shelby County case, the Voting Section’s work will necessarily shift to greater affirmative efforts to detect and investigate voting practices that violate federal law, to more affirmative litigation to … Continue reading
On the Road to Arguing for the Unconstitutionality of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act
I’ve been sounding this alarm for a while, beginning with leading up to the Shelby County oral argument. Opponents of the constitutionality of Voting Rights Act Section 5 made the claim, among others, that Section 5 was no longer necessary … Continue reading
“Legal Center Warns Jasper, Texas that Proposed Annexations Could Lead to Violations of Voting Rights Act”
See here. … Continue reading
“Free at Last: Rejecting Equal Sovereignty and Restoring the Constitutional Right to Vote: Shelby County v. Holder”
James Blacksher and Lani Guinier have posted this draft on SSRN (forthcoming, Harvard Law and Policy Review). Here is the abstract: The “equal sovereignty” principle the Supreme Court majority relied on in Shelby County v. Holder to strike down the … Continue reading
Roll Call on Whether Cantor Will Support New Voting Rights Act
Here. … Continue reading
Cantor Non-Committal, Hoyer Optimistic, on VRAA Bill
Cantor is the key player in the House on whether we will see a legislative response to fix the Voting Rights Act after the Supreme Court hobbled a key provision last June in the Shelby County case. … Continue reading
“Santa Clarita Votes To Settle California Voting Rights Act Lawsuit”
And cumulative voting is in the mix. … Continue reading
“Protecting Voting Rights in Alabama”
NAACP LDF: As part of our efforts to protect the right to vote across the country, LDF’s Political Participation Group wrote a letter to the Alabama Secretary of State, Jim Bennett, urging him to allow thousands of people to continue … Continue reading
Senator Ted Cruz Distorts Supreme Court’s Voting Rights Holding
By all indications Sen.Ted Cruz is a brilliant lawyer. So I take his mischaracterizing of the Supreme Court’s Shelby County case as being disingenuous and not simply misguided. Sen. Cruz writes: It is disturbing that new efforts are being made … Continue reading
“Harkin: DOJ Civil Rights Nominee Would Have Been Confirmed If He Was White”
HuffPo reports. I have no doubt about that. … Continue reading
James O’Keefe Goes After Sensenbrenner on Provisions of Voting Rights Act Amendments
See J. Christian Adams in the National Review. … Continue reading
“Justice Ginsburg’s Umbrella”
Ellen Katz has posted this draft on SSRN (forthcoming, A Nation of Widening Opportunities? The Civil Rights Act at Fifty, Samuel Bagenstos and Ellen Katz, eds., University of Michigan Press, 2014). Here is the abstract: This Essay relies on an … Continue reading
“Voting Rights Advocates Try to Put Oversight Back on the Map”
ProPublica reports. … Continue reading
DOJ Changes Its Page Describing Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act
On February 17 I noted that the DOJ page on Section 5 gave no indication that Shelby County had been decided and that section 5 was no longer being enforced against previously covered jurisdictions. The page has now been updated, … Continue reading
Quote of the Day: Why We Still Need VRA Preclearance Edition
“No, ma’am. I don’t vote for black people. They got their place, I got my place.” –Lousiana voter, interviewed by NPR in Democratic Sen. Landrieu Walks A Fine Line In Red Louisiana (h/t Adam Serwer) … Continue reading
“CQ Researcher Voting Controversies v.24-8″
Ken Jost has produced a marvelous primer for CQ Researcher on voting controversies. You can purchase it as a stand-alone (or if you are part of a university or organization you may have a subscription). Here’s the abstract: Election laws … Continue reading
“Chief Justice Roberts Was Right: How To Fix The Voting Rights Act”
Amel Ahmed writes for TPM Cafe. … Continue reading
NAACP LDF Suit in Louisiana Seeks Voting Rights Act Bail-In
Press release: LDF and cooperating Louisiana attorney, Ronald L. Wilson, filed a challenge under the Voting Rights Act and the U. S. Constitution to Terrebonne Parish, Louisiana’s 32nd Judicial District Court. A Black candidate has never been elected as a judge on … Continue reading
“Responding to Shelby County: A Grand Election Bargain”
Dan Tokaji has posted this draft on SSRN (forthcoming, Harvard Law & Policy Review). Here is the abstract: The immediate reaction to the Supreme Court’s decision in Shelby County v. Holder was predictably fast, furious, and fissured. Some lauded the … Continue reading
DOJ Web Page on Section 5 Does Not Acknowledge Shelby County and End of Preclearance Regime
At some point About Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act should probably be updated. After all, Shelby County was in June 2013. … Continue reading
“Tuesday primary marks 2 years since only use of controversial voter ID law”
The latest from Wisconsin. … Continue reading
“Voting-Rights Bill’s Backers Say There’s No Doubt It Will Pass”
National Journal reports. I would wager that it does not pass this year, despite the optimistic statements from the bill’s supporters. … Continue reading
“Voter ID cases could let John Roberts destroy Voting Rights Act”
MSNBC reports. … Continue reading
Quote of the Day: Federal Government as Gestapo Edition
“It’s like a boot’s been lifted off the back of our neck.” –Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp, speaking of what it has been like since Voting Rights Acr preclearance disappeared after the Supreme Court’s Shelby County decision. … Continue reading
“North Carolina voting law targets black voters: Study”
Adam Serwer reports for MSNBC. … Continue reading
Question of the Night? Voting Rights Act Edition
How can Eric Cantor come out in favor of the VRAA with the Wall Street Journal opinion page coming out so strongly against it? Without Cantor’s backing it is hard to see how it has any chance making it out … Continue reading
“The ‘Voting Rights’ Partisan Power Play”
Mike Carvin and Hans von Spakovsky WSJ oped: “In reaction to the U.S. Supreme Court’s Shelby County v. Holder decision last June, Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner (R., Wis.) and Sen. Patrick Leahy (D., Vt.) have introduced the Voting Rights Amendment Act … Continue reading