Category Archives: Voting Rights Act

“Supreme Court won’t take up Georgia dispute over ‘at-large’ elections and minority vote dilution”

June 24, 2024, 8:39 amSupreme Court, Voting Rights ActRick Hasen

CNN: The Supreme Court won’t take up a case challenging Georgia’s system for electing its public utility board in a defeat for Black voters who argued the so-called “at-large” electoral system diluted their votes. The justices’ refusal to get involved… Continue reading

Supreme Court Asks for US Government’s Views on North Dakota Racial Gerrymandering/Voting Rights Act Case

June 10, 2024, 6:52 amredistricting, Supreme Court, Voting Rights ActRick Hasen

Order list and jurisdictional statement. Surprise! A brief from Alabama for 13 states would go much further in attempting to dismantle the Voting Rights Act as applied to redistricting. The request to hear from the Solicitor General means this… Continue reading

Were the Liberal Justices Savvy or Suckers in the NAMUDNO Voting Rights Case Leading to the Shelby County Case Overturning a Key Part of the Voting Rights Act? New Inside Information from Judge Tatel Shows They Were Suckers

May 29, 2024, 7:27 amSupreme Court, Voting Rights ActRick Hasen

Before there was Shelby County there was NAMUDNO, a case that punted on the constitutionality of a key part of the Voting Rights Act in an almost unanimous opinion. I wrote in the Supreme Court Review in 2009 that the… Continue reading

Breaking and Analysis: Justice Alito for Republican Justices, over the Dissent of Democratic Justices, Rewrites Racial Gerrymandering Standards to Help White Republican States

May 23, 2024, 7:11 amredistricting, Supreme Court, Voting Rights ActRick Hasen

[This post has been edited and updated.] In a 6-3 decision authored by Justice Alito, the Supreme Court has reversed a lower court ruling holding that South Carolina’s congressional map was a racial gerrymandering. Justice Thomas concurred, and Justice Kagan,… Continue reading

“The Perennial Eclipse: Race, Immigration, and How Latinx Count in American Politics”

May 4, 2024, 10:41 amVoting Rights ActRick Hasen

Rachel Moran has written this article for the Houston Law Review. Here is the abstract: In 2016, the U.S. Supreme Court decided Evenwel v. Abbott, a case challenging the use of total population in state legislative apportionment as a violation… Continue reading

Louisiana Wants Entire 5th Circuit to Hear Its Appeal (Bypassing a 5th Circuit Panel) Arguing that Private Plaintiffs Don’t Have the Right to Sue Under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act

April 29, 2024, 2:56 pmVoting Rights ActRick Hasen

Aggressive. (via Hansi Lo Wang)

Remedies Scholars Brief Filed in Chisom Judicial Elections Voting Rights Case Before En Banc Fifth Circuit

April 6, 2024, 3:03 pmjudicial elections, Remedies, Voting Rights ActRick Hasen

Remedies scholars Doug Laycock, Doug Rendleman, Caprice Roberts and I have filed this amicus brief in the Fifth Circuit, which is considering en banc Louisiana’s challenge to the consent decree in the Chisom case. It was written by a… Continue reading

“Supreme Court Rejects Bid to Revive Washington State Voting Map Said to Hurt Hispanics”

April 2, 2024, 1:45 pmredistricting, Voting Rights ActRick Hasen

NYT: The Supreme Court refused on Tuesday to reinstate a voting map for the Washington State Legislature that a federal judge had found discriminated against Hispanic voters. As is the court’s custom when it acts on emergency applications, its brief… Continue reading

New OMB race/ethnicity categories

March 28, 2024, 10:38 pmredistricting, Voting Rights Actcensus, raceJustin Levitt

Justin here. This is a really big deal: the federal government’s got new standards for collecting data on race and ethnicity. The Office of Management and Budget has a sneak preview today of tomorrow’s update of “Statistical Policy Directive No.… Continue reading

“Federal court rejects congressional redistricting challenge as state lawsuit awaits Florida Supreme Court”

March 28, 2024, 10:04 amredistricting, Voting Rights ActRick Hasen

The Tributary: A three-judge federal panel unanimously upheld a controversial congressional map backed by Gov. Ron DeSantis, despite accusations he and the Legislature discriminated against Black voters. The judges agreed that the plaintiffs failed to show the Legislature was discriminating… Continue reading

Amid SCOTUS’s Continued Silence, Federal District Court in South Carolina Racial Gerrymandering Case Will Allow Congressional Election to Go Forward Under District It Held Illegal

March 28, 2024, 7:28 amSupreme Court, Voting Rights ActRick Hasen

Here is the order: The present circumstances make it plainly impractical for the Court to adopt a remedial plan for Congressional District No. 1 in advance of the military and overseas absentee ballot deadline of April 27, 2024 mandated under… Continue reading

Cert. Petition Filed in Georgia Voting Rights Act Case Concerning At-Large Elections to the Public Service Commission

March 28, 2024, 7:01 amVoting Rights ActRick Hasen

I’ll be watching this one.

“Obscure legal theory could weaken voters’ protections from racist laws”

March 18, 2024, 8:04 amVoting Rights ActRick Hasen

The Guardian: A federal court has embraced a novel legal theory that seriously threatens one of the last legs of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. At the heart of the dispute is who has the right to bring a… Continue reading

“Judge redraws WA’s legislative map after lawsuit over Latino voters”

March 16, 2024, 9:44 amVoting Rights ActRick Hasen

Seattle Times: Washington’s political map is set to change in response to allegations of discrimination against Latino voters, and a result could be Democrats winning more seats in the Legislature. U.S. District Court Judge Robert Lasnik approved new boundaries for… Continue reading

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