Bail-in: local, non-southern edition

Justin here.

In the wake of Shelby County, attention will naturally follow cases seeking bail-in for jurisdictions once covered by sections 4 and 5.  Like Texas, where there’s the opposite of the “New York, New York” scenario: if you can make it anywhere, you can make it there.  And now, North Carolina, which had 40 counties covered under sections 4 and 5, and where the legislature’s latest has inspired a request to bail in the state as a whole.

I still doubt that a bail-in regime premised on responsive litigation is an effective substitute for section 4.  But it is also worth remembering that bail-in, once used exclusively for jurisdictions outside of section 4 coverage, is also still used for those jurisdictions.  Last Wednesday, a lawsuit was filed against a high school district in Wolf Point, Montana — seeking, among other things, bail-in.

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