Category Archives: Voting Rights Act

“Faulkner’s Voting Rights Act: The Sound and Fury of Section Five”

January 15, 2013, 10:41 amVoting Rights ActRick Hasen

Joel Heller has posted this draft on SSRN (Hofstra Law Review). Here is the abstract: In its most recent examination of the Voting Rights Act, the Supreme Court told a story about the South. Although the Court ultimately did not… Continue reading

Another View of the Section 5 Voting Rights Case

January 11, 2013, 9:47 amVoting Rights ActRick Hasen

A longtime reader of the blog writes of my “What’s Lost If the Voting Rights Falls” piece at Slate: I assume you don’t write the headlines, but can we dispense with the “strike down the Voting Rights Act” phraseology [Google… Continue reading

“What’s Lost if the Voting Rights Act Falls? Minority voters will lose a key bargaining chip”

January 10, 2013, 7:48 amDepartment of Justice, voter id, Voting Rights ActRick Hasen

I’ve written this Jurisprudence essay for Slate. It begins: Odds are, the Supreme Court will strike down a key provision of the Voting Rights Act after hearing a case from Alabama that will be argued next month. If the… Continue reading

“Sword, Shield, and Compass: The Uses and Misuses of Racially Polarized Voting Studies in Voting Rights Enforcement”

January 9, 2013, 12:49 pmvoting, Voting Rights ActRick Hasen

Kareem Crayton has posted this draft on SSRN. Here is the abstract: This article addresses the multiple functions of racially polarized voting (RPV) studies, an essential element of voting rights enforcement. This type of social science analysis figures into the… Continue reading

“South Carolina part of suit challenging Voting Rights Act provisions”

January 9, 2013, 9:08 amDepartment of Justice, Voting Rights ActRick Hasen

Gannett reports: “South Carolina spent $3.5 million defending its voter identification law against government allegations of discrimination, while other states with similar laws faced no such opposition, the state’s top attorney said recently in court papers.The discrepancy proves the… Continue reading

“Alabama Backs County on Voting Rights Case”

January 9, 2013, 8:03 amDepartment of Justice, Supreme Court, Voting Rights ActRick Hasen

USA Today reports.

“Texas redistricting appeal not relisted for this Friday”

January 8, 2013, 11:10 amDepartment of Justice, redistricting, Voting Rights ActRick Hasen

Waiting on Shelby County? It wouldn’t surprise me. It would be a lot of work to decide the Texas redistricting case, and the case would be moot if the Supreme Court strikes down section 5 of the VRA first… Continue reading

Toobin on Shelby County Case

January 7, 2013, 7:36 amDepartment of Justice, Supreme Court, Voting Rights ActRick Hasen

Here, in the New Yorker.

“SC’s voter ID lawsuit cost $3.5 million; But court rules federal government must cover some of the costs”

January 5, 2013, 8:36 amDepartment of Justice, The Voting Wars, voter id, Voting Rights ActRick Hasen

The State: “It cost South Carolina $3.5 million to sue the federal government over the state’s voter ID law – but the federal government will have to pay some of that bill. Late Friday, a court ruled that because South… Continue reading

Texas Solictor General Responds to My Comment About Its Shelby County Amicus Brief

January 5, 2013, 8:26 amDepartment of Justice, Supreme Court, Voting Rights ActRick Hasen

In response to my January 3 post, Texas Remarkably Fails to Mention in Amicus Brief Against Voting Rights Act That Court Found It Engaged in Purposeful Racial Discrimination in Voting Last Year, Texas Solicitor General Jonathan Mitchell sends along… Continue reading

“America Has Changed, So Voting Rights Act Section 5 Is No Longer Constitutional”

January 4, 2013, 10:10 amDepartment of Justice, Supreme Court, Voting Rights ActRick Hasen

Ilya Shapiro blogs.

Texas Remarkably Fails to Mention in Amicus Brief Against Voting Rights Act That Court Found It Engaged in Purposeful Racial Discrimination in Voting Last Year

January 3, 2013, 9:27 pmDepartment of Justice, Supreme Court, Voting Rights ActRick Hasen

A remarkable omission in the Texas amicus brief in the Shelby County voting rights case before the Supreme Court: there’s all this talk about how burdensome the law is in relation to the DOJ fight over Texas’s voter identification law.… Continue reading

Numerous Amicus Briefs, Including by Some Covered States, Filed Against Constitutionality of Voting Rights Act Section 5, in Shelby County Case

January 3, 2013, 7:51 pmDepartment of Justice, Supreme Court, Voting Rights ActRick Hasen

Via the Project on Fair Representation (representing Shelby County): Amicus Briefs Alabama Alaska American Unity Legal Defense Fund Arizona, Georgia, South Carolina and South Dakota Cato Institute Former Government Officials John Nix, Anthony Cuomo and Dr. Abigail Thernstrom Judicial Education … Continue reading

“U.S. Supreme Court Poised To Determine Constitutionality of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act; Merced County Files Amicus Brief Defending Its Bailout From Section 5 Coverage.”

January 3, 2013, 7:28 pmSupreme Court, Voting Rights ActRick Hasen

Press release: On January 2, 2013, two of Nielsen Merksamer’s leading voting rights experts, Marguerite Leoni and Chris Skinnell, filed an amicus curiae brief in the United States Supreme Court, in the pending constitutional challenge to Section 5 of… Continue reading