Thurs & Fri: Univ. of Penn Law Review Multiracial Democracy Symposium 

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You can register for and get more info on the symposium here.  

In light of recent attacks on multiracial democracy, I’m honored to co-organize The Future of Law & Multiracial Democracy Symposium this upcoming Thursday and Friday (October 23-24) in Philadelphia at the University of Pennsylvania Law School.  

We’ll hear from leading thinkers on voting rights, including Guy-Uriel Charles, Torey Dolan, Tabatha Abu El-Haj, Nathan Fleming, Damon Hewitt, Ellen Katz, and Michael Morse.

We’ll also hear from many top scholars in other areas shaping our multiracial democracy, including technology, courts, history and culture, immigration, civil rights, and Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (the full agenda and list of scholars is here).  

The articles from the symposium will be published by the University of Pennsylvania Law Review in 2026. 

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“Voting Rights Act faces a near-death experience at US Supreme Court”

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Reuters:

…The Trump administration’s framework would impose new evidentiary requirements on Black voters who sue over how electoral maps are drawn. Among other things, they would need current statistics showing that a legislature discriminated based on race, rather than party affiliation.

In the United States, where more than 80 percent of Black voters back Democratic candidates, decoupling race and party affiliation in such a way is difficult.

The Justice Department’s approach “would make it extremely difficult for Section 2 plaintiffs to win in jurisdictions where you have intense polarization, like you do in the Deep South,” said Travis Crum, a law professor at Washington University in St. Louis.

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“Trump Pushes Indiana Lawmakers to Redraw State Maps”

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NYT:  

President Trump called Republicans in the Indiana Senate on Friday morning to encourage them to redraw the state’s congressional maps to benefit Republicans ahead of the midterm elections, according to three people familiar with the call.

Mr. Trump asked the state lawmakers to support a new map that would eliminate the state’s two Democratic districts and give Republicans all nine congressional seats, the people said.

The call is part of an escalating White House pressure campaign on Republican-led states to redraw congressional maps to help the Trump administration retain control of the U.S. House in the midterm elections next year.

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“White House Hires ‘Stop the Steal’ Lawyer to Investigate 2020 Election Claims”

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WSJ:  

A former Trump campaign lawyer who worked on the effort to overturn the 2020 election results has joined the administration to investigate that year’s election and voting-related issues, according to people familiar with the matter.

Kurt Olsen, a lawyer who unsuccessfully pushed claims of voter fraud, has joined the administration as a “special government employee,” some of the people said. The appointment gives Olsen 130 days to work from within the White House without giving up any private business interests. He is talking directly with President Trump, the people said. 

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“Does the sale of Dominion Voting Systems mean a transformation? Depends who’s asking”

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NPR: 

When Scott Leiendecker announced he was buying Dominion Voting Systems — the elections technology company at the heart of countless 2020 election conspiracy theories — he teased a transformation….

“We are turning the page and beginning the vital work of restoring faith in American elections,” Leiendecker wrote in a public letter posted on the website for his new company, Liberty Vote.

But in private, when speaking to the company’s county election official customers, the messaging has been different, raising the question of how much the company plans to change.

“Feel assured that Liberty Vote shares the same values as Dominion,” company representatives in Georgia, which has a statewide contract with the company, wrote in an email that NPR reviewed that was sent to counties after the sale was announced. “Same team, same support, different name.”…

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