All posts by Derek Muller
“Mary Lou Graves, Nolen Breedlove, and the Nineteenth Amendment”
Draft from Ellen D. Katz, forthcoming in the Georgetown Journal of Law & Public Policy:
This close examination of two cases is part of a larger ongoing project to provide a distinct account of the Nineteenth Amendment. In 1921,… Continue reading
“Gerrymandering and the Limits of Representative Democracy”
New article from Kai Hao Yang and Alexander Zentefis:
We assess the capacity of gerrymandering to undermine the will of the people in a representative democracy. Citizens have political positions represented on a spectrum, and electoral maps separate people into… Continue reading
Some recent law student scholarship on election law
This weekend, I’ll blog about some recent election law scholarship. I thought I’d start by highlighting a few student notes that caught my eye in recent weeks:
Kyle Apple (Iowa), Gerrymandering the Presidency: Why Federal District Popular Voting Presents a … Continue reading
“Justice Thomas Ruled on Election Cases. Should His Wife’s Texts Have Stopped Him?”
Adam Liptak explores in the New York Times:
The disclosure that Virginia Thomas, the wife of Justice Clarence Thomas, had sent a barrage of text messages to the Trump White House urging efforts to overturn the 2020 election brought… Continue reading
Election litigation update for week ending March 25, 2022
Filing a complaint or winning a judgment are actions good enough to earn the headlines, but there’s plenty of election litigation ongoing throughout the United States at various stages. A taste of a few things that happened over the past… Continue reading
“Federal judges mull trimming Ohio early voting among other options to address redistricting delays”
Out of the frying pan, from Cleveland.com:
A federal court is considering whether to order Ohio to trim its early voting period for the May 3 primary election to buy more time for the state’s stalled redistricting efforts.During a… Continue reading
“Group Wanted to Kidnap Michigan Governor and Block Biden’s Election, Plotter Says”
New York Times:
To hear Ty Garbin tell it, the kidnapping of Michigan’s Democratic governor would have been just the beginning.By abducting Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Mr. Garbin and other plotters hoped, he said, to set off a chain of… Continue reading
“Judge throws out Maryland congressional map over ‘extreme’ gerrymandering”
Meagan Flynn at the Washington Post:
Maryland judge has thrown out the state’s congressional map, calling it an “extreme partisan gerrymander” in what is a victory for Republicans who said Democrats in the state General Assembly sought to silence… Continue reading
“Michigan Supreme Court tosses partisan fairness lawsuit challenging state House map”
Detroit Free Press:
The Michigan Supreme Court dismissed a lawsuit Friday alleging that the state House map drawn by the redistricting commission is unfair to Democrats. In a 5-2 ruling, the court upheld the new state House districts. In… Continue reading
“GOP Congressman Jeff Fortenberry Found Guilty in Campaign Finance Case”
Deanna Paul in the Wall Street Journal:
A federal jury in Los Angeles on Thursday found Nebraska Rep. Jeff Fortenberry guilty of lying to federal investigators in a bid to conceal illegal campaign contributions he received during a 2016… Continue reading
“Ohio’s anti-gerrymandering coalition splits after voting-rights groups delay congressional map challenge”
Cleveland.com:
The backlash within Ohio’s political left was swift after a major voting-rights group announced this week it had dropped its attempt to block a new Republican-drawn congressional map from taking effect in 2022.The ACLU of Ohio, representing a… Continue reading
“Federal judge says Waller County voting process did not discriminate against Black college students”
Texas Tribune:
A federal judge ruled Thursday that Waller County did not discriminate against student voters at Prairie View A&M University during the 2018 general election when it granted them fewer days and hours for early voting, the latest… Continue reading
“Justice Department Files Voting Rights Lawsuit Against Galveston County, Texas to Challenge County Redistricting Plan”
Complaint is here. Press release here. The Justice Department has initiated a handful of Section 2 challenges this redistricting cycle. It’s worth noting that unlike the Alabama litigation, as Rick P. blogged about here, this does… Continue reading