"Justices May Strike Down Part Of Voting Rights Act"

NPR offers this report. A snippet:

When the Supreme Court strikes down a significant law, the Justice Department often comes back with a proposed change that would address the court's concerns. Sources say civil rights is such an important part of this administration's agenda that the Justice Department does not want to wait weeks or months to respond to a decision gutting the Voting Rights Act.

That's why lawyers at the Justice Department are playing a complicated game of chess right now, trying to forecast the Supreme Court's potential moves so the department has responses ready.

The leader of the Justice Department team is an election law expert named Sam Hirsch. He arrived at Justice a few months ago from private practice. Neither he nor anyone else at the Department would comment for this story.

Posted by Rick Hasen at June 12, 2009 01:35 PM