Category Archives: Voting Rights Act

“Alabama’s New Fight for Voting Rights”

March 9, 2016, 8:47 amThe Voting Wars, Voting Rights ActRick Hasen

Spencer Woodman for Vice: The recent proliferation of new restrictions has inflected the celebrations in Selma this week with worries of a resurgent era of voter suppression—concerns that have taken on new urgency ahead of the first presidential election since… Continue reading

“The Voting Rights Act at 50: The Past, Present, and Future of the Right to Vote”

March 5, 2016, 5:29 pmVoting Rights ActRick Hasen

Symposium in the Louisiana Law Review: Tempering Society’s Looking Glass: Correcting Misconceptions About the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and Securing American Democracy Orville Vernon Burton PDF The Irony of Intent: Statutory Interpretation and the Constitutionality of Section 2 of … Continue reading

“Voters Were Blocked From the Polls on Super Tuesday by New Restrictions”

March 3, 2016, 2:06 pmelection administration, The Voting Wars, voter id, Voting Rights ActRick Hasen

Ari Berman: The 2016 election is the first in 50 years without the full protections of the Voting Rights Act. Texas is a perfect case study of what has happened since the Supreme Court gutted the VRA. Clark… Continue reading

“Voting Rights Opponents Attempt to Intimidate Voters and Their Attorneys From Challenging Discriminatory Voting Laws”

March 3, 2016, 7:14 amVoting Rights ActRick Hasen

CLC: The Campaign Legal Center (CLC) is representing voters in Quitman County, Miss. against a legal action seeking more than $300K in attorneys’ fees. Longtime civil rights attorney Ellis Turnage brought a lawsuit on behalf of two voters challenging… Continue reading

“Lawsuit Challenging San Juan County’s Mail-Only Electoral System Filed”

February 26, 2016, 5:15 pmVoting Rights ActRick Hasen

Release: The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law (Lawyers’ Committee), DLA Piper, LLP, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the American Civil Liberties Union of Utah (ACLU of Utah) announce the filing of a new lawsuit against… Continue reading

“County takes dispute with Brooksville over annexations to court”

February 24, 2016, 12:12 pmVoting Rights ActRick Hasen

Tampa Bay Times: Hernando County officials have taken their concerns about the city of Brooksville’s recent annexations to court, filing a lawsuit last week. The county is alleging that the city has shown intent to racially discriminate against the… Continue reading

“Election Protection 2016: #ProtectOURVOTE”

February 24, 2016, 7:17 amelection administration, The Voting Wars, Voting Rights ActRick Hasen

Lawyers’ Committee: This 2016 presidential election year is like no other in recent history. At the onset, some voters face unprecedented challenges, while others benefit from recently enacted election reforms. This brief explores some of those challenges and reforms… Continue reading

The Fight to Vote: New Book by Michael Waldman of the Brennan Center

February 23, 2016, 5:30 pmelection administration, The Voting Wars, Voting Rights ActRick Hasen

This looks timely and important: Michael Waldman, author of The Second Amendment: A Biography and President of the Brennan Center for Justice, is a leading law scholar and public policy activist. In his new book, THE FIGHT TO VOTE (Simon… Continue reading

“A New Proposal to Address Local Voting Discrimination”

February 21, 2016, 10:41 amVoting Rights ActRick Hasen

Cody Gray has posted this draft on SSRN (University of Richmond Law Review). Here is the abstract: Many scholars writing about the Voting Rights Act today are grappling with doctrinal questions related to the Supreme Court’s decision in Shelby County… Continue reading

“Scalia’s absence could shape election rules”

February 17, 2016, 7:08 pmSupreme Court, The Voting Wars, Voting Rights ActRick Hasen

Josh Gerstein for Politico: Justice Antonin Scalia’s death is certain to have an impact on the political debate in this year’s elections, but it could also have a far more direct effect on the elections themselves. There are numerous challenges… Continue reading

“Whose Votes Will Count? The State of Voting Rights and the 2016 Election”

February 17, 2016, 10:10 amelection administration, The Voting Wars, Voting Rights ActRick Hasen

This ABA event in DC on Feb. 29 looks great. Speakers include Kristen Clark, Marc Elias, and Julie Fernandes, moderated by Jason Abel.

Revised Version of Paper on Election Law at the Roberts Court

February 15, 2016, 7:45 amcampaign finance, redistricting, Supreme Court, The Voting Wars, Voting Rights ActRick Hasen

I have now posted a revised version of Election Law’s Path in the Roberts Court’s First Decade: A Sharp Right Turn but with Speed Bumps and Surprising Twists, forthcoming Stanford Law Review (2016). Though revised, the revision was… Continue reading

“When it comes to voting rights, North Carolina the new Selma”

February 12, 2016, 4:01 pmSupreme Court, Voting Rights ActRick Hasen

David Goodman oped in the News and Observer: In the summer of 1964, the Ku Klux Klan murdered my brother, Andrew Goodman, along with fellow civil rights advocates James Chaney and Michael Schwerner, for having the temerity to try to… Continue reading

“From Selma to Ferguson: The Voting Rights Act as a Blueprint for Police Reform”

February 11, 2016, 9:17 pmVoting Rights ActRick Hasen

Jason Mazzone and Stephen Rushin have posted this draft on SSRN. Here is the abstract: The Voting Rights Act of 1965 revolutionized access to the voting booth. Rather than responding to claims of voter suppression through litigation against individual states… Continue reading